Fic: Lost in Translation (6/?)
Title: Lost in Translation
Author: kayevelyn
Fandom: Super Junior
Pairing: Qmi
Rating: +17
Summary: AU Kyuhyun is part of Zhou Mi's new high school class. Zhou Mi has been sleeping with him for two months. This is all very awkward.
Notes: For umberela. Thanks for betaing for me at.... 1 in the morning :) So I know this is late but I have an excuse. Just saying... so no I didn't forget. To make up for it here's 9,500 words \o///
Oh and if you didn't already know this is my thread for help_japan and you can find a list of other Suju authors who are participating here. Bidding ends March 30th at 6PM EST, and just a heads up, I'll probably be doing the lightening rounds that they'll be having :)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
It was nice waking up to someone, even if they had to get up at five in the morning after finally falling asleep at three thirty. Zhou Mi couldn’t even remember what they had been talking about. He had just been staring at the ceiling, in the dark, while they tried to say anything that came to mind. They didn’t want the night to end it seemed. Kyuhyun had clung to him, leg thrown over Zhou Mi’s knees while they had laid there, his head buried into his shoulder.
As Zhou Mi brushed his teeth he vaguely remembered a lot of the talk being about how bony he was. He frowned and glanced at Kyuhyun, getting dressed behind him. His uniform was dirty, and no doubt anyone who wanted to pay attention would notice that it was the exact same one from the day before.
He poked Kyuhyun’s rib, watching as he jumped just a bit, before turning to Zhou Mi and smiling, despite how tired he was.
“I haff your swirt,” he said around his toothbrush and he pointed to his bedroom.
Kyuhyun raised an amused eyebrow and paused in buttoning up his shirt. “What?”
Zhou Mi spit out his toothpaste and finished rinsing his mouth before he spoke again. “I have one of your shirts.”
Kyuhyun looked down at his wrinkled uniform shirt and then removed it. When he came back into the bathroom he was wearing the clean shirt, and though it wasn’t a uniform shirt, it still looked better than wearing the same shirt two days in a row.
“I’m going to put together lunch for us, alright?” Kyuhyun said, after he had tied his tie and flattened his hair out. He still looked tired but he was smiling and Zhou Mi nodded, figuring that Kyuhyun couldn’t make anything too bad.
He’d bring some money just in case.
They were out the door and on the subway by six thirty, brown paper bags holding their lunches clutched in their hands. The subway was just as crowded as normal, and it was just like the day before. Zhou Mi would lean down and whisper into Kyuhyun’s ear, muttering about the way that one businessman kept looking at that girl’s cell phone, and they both laughed as the boy who fell asleep holding onto the railing and almost fell over. And like yesterday Zhou Mi didn’t notice if anyone was looking at the two of them, and the fact that they were pressed too close together, or that Kyuhyun kept looking at his lips every time he spoke.
He didn’t even mind the fact that Kyuhyun walked through the gates with him, and followed him into his classroom, stashing his bag behind Zhou Mi’s desk. He just laughed and shook his head.
“Don’t you have a locker?”
Kyuhyun shrugged, leaning over to get out his English workbook, and a few notebooks. “I’m just going to be back for lunch, and then I finish my day here, so I don’t see why I should bother using my locker. It’s not like anyone is going to steal it from you.”
Zhou Mi sighed, not able to argue with that and pulled Kyuhyun in for a quick kiss. When they broke apart Kyuhyun was grinning widely before he stepped back.
“I’ll see you at lunch,” Kyuhyun said with a smile, grabbing the books he needed for his class and leaving.
Zhou Mi smiled and headed back to his desk, intent on going over the list of students they were sending invitations to auditions to before meeting with Jongwoon. Currently there were twenty-five names in each category, and they only wanted to have five solos. They planned to have three students working together; a composer, a songwriter, and a soloist. The composer and songwriter would be in charge of auditioning students to perform the music live for the performance, and if they decided to make it a duet, they would have to do the auditions for that as well. Zhou Mi, Jongwoon and Ryeowook were only going to be there for guidance.
There was a knock on his door and Zhou Mi looked up, knowing it was probably Jongwoon. Even now he still insisted on knocking on the door.
“Come in,” Zhou Mi called, because he didn’t want to get up yet.
Sure enough Jongwoon opened the door, peeking his head in. “Ready for this meeting?”
Zhou Mi laughed, patting the folder on his desk. “Sure. We only have seventy-five students to wade through.”
Jongwoon made a face as he pulled a chair up to Zhou Mi’s desk. “Seventy-five? Why are there so many talented students at this school?”
“I don’t know. Probably has to do with this being an art school.”
Jongwoon snorted and picked up the first folder. “Well we can definitely make the audition pool smaller. I don’t feel like inviting seventy-five students to try out.”
Zhou Mi laughed again. “Sure thing.”
They started by removing any of the students whose grades were not up to par. That didn’t lower the number by too much, and then they started going by their own evaluations of the students.
“Again I ask, why are there so many talented students at this school?”
Zhou Mi glanced at the clock; they had ten minutes left before his first class. “And again I say, it’s probably because this is an art school.”
Jongwoon made a face and crossed off another name. “Well we have it down to sixty students. I would have liked to make it at least 30.”
Zhou Mi looked at the list of names and pursed his lips. “We could always just start crossing off random names.”
“Don’t tempt me,” Jongwoon said with a laugh. “Start at the beginning and just remove every other name.”
“Could work.” But Zhou Mi knew they weren’t serious, and by the end of the meeting they had whittled it down to 54 names.
Jongwoon leaned back in his seat and looked over the list one more time. “Well I guess I’ll hand out the invitations to my students. You’ll do your students?”
“Unless they decide to be brats to me,” Zhou Mi said with a laugh as he leaned back in his seat, watching Jongwoon pack up his things.
“Well then I guess we will get down to that thirty number I want,” Jongwoon smirked and nodded his head before he headed to the door and left the room.
Zhou Mi sighed and started setting up for his next class. He just hoped that there wouldn’t be any drama while handing out the invitations.
“I can’t believe she cried,” Kyuhyun said. They were alone, waiting for Changmin and Henry to join them in Zhou Mi’s classroom, for practice. “It’s not like she was the only one who didn’t get picked for the auditions.”
“You’re so awful,” Zhou Mi muttered. In everything that he had imagined going wrong with handing out the invitations he hadn’t foreseen anyone crying because they hadn’t been picked. But it had happened. More than once.
“And I can’t believe you gave me a detention!”
“You were laughing at her Kui Xian! What was I supposed to do?”
Kyuhyun tried to keep a straight face but he eventually lost it, folding in on himself as he laughed. Zhou Mi just continued to stare at Kyuhyun until he was finished laughing, and then he would remind him that just because they were dating didn't mean he could excuse Kyuhyun's behavior. Kyuhyun finally pulled himself together, and he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand before looking at Zhou Mi and cracking another smile. "I think you only gave me the detention so that way we could be alone together."
Zhou Mi pointed his finger right at Kyuhyun, a mock-frown on his face. "No."
Kyuhyun fell back into his seat laughing. "You did. This has nothing to do with me laughing, and you know I wasn't the only one who laughed."
"You're just the only one I can punish."
Kyuhyun stuck out his tongue. "Kinky."
"You're awful," Zhou Mi repeated. "Absolutely awful."
Kyuhyun was about to reply, probably something cheesy that would just make Zhou Mi mentally flounder like it's why you love me, but Henry saved him that embarrassment. Because he wasn't sure it was healthy to want to reply yes, yes it is. And please never change. It was probably something that you were warned about in school, relationship types to avoid. Well, honestly this whole fiasco should have been avoided, but Zhou Mi had made his choice.
Henry looked between the two of them before speaking. "So did you really laugh when Chaemin started to cry because she didn't get invited to audition? Because if so, Tiffany is going to gut you."
Kyuhyun frowned. "Why? They aren't friends."
Zhou Mi sighed and said, "because Tiffany is a good person, unlike you," at the same time that Henry said, "because Tiffany is just looking for an excuse."
Kyuhyun continued to look perplexed. "I don't understand. Is it about Seohyun?"
Henry looked at Zhou Mi, and they shared a moment of experastion at Kyuhyun's lack of social skills.
"He's your boyfriend, you can explain common nicety to him," Henry finally settled on, heading to his seat and taking out what they had been working on in class. "Now can you please explain again what your love of folk songs is about." He waved the two sheets of music around and Zhou Mi let out a sigh, giving a look to Kyuhyun.
"I'll explain the way humanity works when we get home," he said with a fond smile and Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest and refusing to move until Changmin came in, asking the same question Henry had asked, and giving the same warning.
"You would have laughed too!" Kyuhyun said with sigh, rolling his head back and Zhou Mi had to stop himself from reaching forward to rubbing the back of his neck to relive the tension. Henry caught his eye and smothered a laugh in his hand.
"Well, yeah. But I wasn't there, and you were. And also the majority of the female population doesn't hate me," Changmin said with a smile, nudging Kyuhyun's shoulder lightly with his. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."
Kyuhyun shoved his shoulder back, shooting a glare at Changmin. "I hate you. Mi can I move? Or at least ban Changmin." He had raised his hand, throwing another look at Changmin as all three of them just looked at him.
Zhou Mi stared, and he saw Henry trying to make small gestures with his hand, possibly saying do something in some type of sign language. He swallowed and then cleared his throat. "I thought you weren't going to call me that during school hours." He could sense how much Henry wanted to face palm, and he wanted to go hide in a ditch right about now because that had come out much more inappropriate than he had wanted and now Changmin was blatantly staring.
Kyuhyun just rolled his eyes. "It's just Changmin. I didn't think it would be a problem." He looked at Changmin nonchalantly and Zhou Mi really envied how calm he could look sometimes. "Don't tell anyone we're on a first name basis. I only do it to bother him, and get back at him for not pronouncing my name right."
Changmin slowly nodded, looking at Zhou Mi apologetically. "On behalf of Kyuhyun, I apologize, and would like it to be known that I will never tell anyone how horrible of a person he is."
"Thanks. It's appreciated," Zhou Mi said as Kyuhyun slapped Changmin's shoulder, hard.
"Ow. That hurt."
"Good. Maybe it will remind you to stop making fun of me."
"Never," Changmin said with a laugh, sticking his tongue out.
Zhou Mi let out another sigh and looked for support in Henry. He didn't seem very supportive, if the way he was trying not to laugh was any indication. But Kyuhyun was smiling, and if this was how he had to spend his afternoons he couldn't find room to complain.
Especially when Kyuhyun followed Zhou Mi towards the subway car, instead of going with Changmin.
"I see how it is!" Changmin called over the throngs of people as he walked away.
"Goodbye!" Kyuhyun called with a laugh, waving his hand.
"Just ditch me! It's okay. Not like I miss you or anything!" He was shouting and Kyuhyun just laughed, moving down the line to get to their train.
"See you tomorrow!"
He latched onto Zhou Mi's arm once they were inside the subway, both hands squeezing his bicep tightly. Zhou Mi looked down at him, smiling fondly as they pressed close together in the subway car.
"What do you want to do for dinner?" He asked, leaning down to whisper in Kyuhyun's ear.
"I made lunch, so you can cook."
Zhou Mi laughed, reaching his hand up to clasp with one of Kyuhyun's. "I hardly consider putting cold cuts on bread 'cooking' but I guess I'll figure out something."
"You weren't complaining when you were eating it," Kyuhyun muttered, squeezing Zhou Mi's hand.
"That's cause I was hungry."
Kyuhyun laughed, turning and pressing his face into Zhou Mi's chest. "You're always hungry, and I've heard you complain about plenty of food."
Zhou Mi snorted. "That was not Chinese food. I don't know what it was, but they shouldn't have called it Chinese."
"So whiny," Kyuhyun said, poking Zhou Mi's side and looking up at him, nose wrinkled up. "So picky."
"Oh stop it," Zhou Mi looked away from him, and at the people crowding the door. They were almost at their stop. "Everyone is allowed to be a little picky."
Someone pushed by them to get off and Kyuhyun laughed as he was shoved into Zhou Mi's chest. He clung tighter, letting go of Zhou Mi's arm to wrap his own arms around Zhou Mi in a proper hug. Zhou Mi reciprocated, reaching up to rest his chin on Kyuhyun head. He could feel Kyuhyun breathing on his neck and he tried to stop himself from shuddering.
"Your chin is pointy."
"Yeah well your breath is soggy. See, allowed to be picky."
Kyuhyun pinched his side and Zhou Mi laughed, removing his chin to look back down at Kyuhyun. "Is it wrong to say that I'm really happy right now?" His voice was hushed, and Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. Underneath it though he could see how happy Kyuhyun looked at that statement.
"Considering we're on the subway, I could think of better places," he trailed off as Zhou Mi leaned down and whispered in his ear.
"I'll tell you again when we're alone."
Kyuhyun shuddered in his arms and Zhou Mi smiled against his ear.
Zhou Mi thought he could really get used to this: going home, eating dinner, sleeping beside someone, and then waking up next to them. Sure, in the back of his mind the big neon light was going off screaming honeymoon stage, honeymoon stage, and he knew it was, because morning breath wasn’t endearing. And showering together wasn’t something he wanted to do forever, but he said it anyway, and Kyuhyun had agreed, before putting soap in his hair.
He just hoped that next week he would still be as happy as he was this week. But for now he’d take it one day at a time.
And today was looking like another good day. Kyuhyun had gone up and apologized to Chaemin, and even though Zhou Mi knew his whole heart wasn’t in it, he had the decency to not tell her the true reason why he had laughed. (“Did you see how red she got?” “That’s not a good reason Kui Xian.” “But it’s the truth.” “Well sometimes it’s better to lie.” “I thought you didn’t like me lying.” “You are so frustrating!”)
So maybe social decency wasn’t sinking in quite as quickly as some people would like, but Zhou Mi didn’t mind because it was just a part of Kyuhyun. Slightly rude, but not always maliciously so. Sometimes he was stupid enough to find it endearing.
“Do I still have to serve my detention?” Kyuhyun asked, leaning over Zhou Mi’s desk.
He gave him a look, one that hopefully conveyed the idea that they were in a classroom that Henry and Changmin and who knows who else were going to walk in at any moment. Kyuhyun just arched an eyebrow and leaned down so their faces were inches apart.
Zhou Mi sighed, wanting to lean forward so badly. “Well do you want to?”
Kyuhyun smirked. “Can it be better than last time?”
Zhou Mi’s eyes narrowed as he remembered what Kyuhyun meant by last time. Before he could open his mouth to say anything negative Kyuhyun had leaned forward, kissing him. Zhou Mi faltered, not sure if he should pull away as Kyuhyun deepened the kiss. He must have felt awkward in that position, his elbows and wrists locked. It would be easy to knock him off balance and flip their positions.
Or maybe he should just let Kyuhyun take control for once. They hadn’t tried that nearly enough. As Kyuhyun moved one of his hands, reaching up to stroke Zhou Mi’s cheek and down to his neck, he wasn’t sure if they ever would.
“And this is why you lock doors,” Henry called and Zhou Mi tried to pull away, but Kyuhyun held onto him for another moment before finally breaking the kiss.
“And this is why you knock,” Kyuhyun called back, stepping away slowly, before turning to see that Henry was alone, looking exasperated but not mad. “Though it wasn’t like anyone but you could have come in.”
Henry just rolled his eyes. “I do actually want help okay. This is not me just,” he paused for a moment, before taking a deep breath and continuing on, “needing something to do anymore. I really do need the help.”
Zhou Mi let out a sigh, realizing what Henry was saying. “Okay. I will help you today. And if Kyuhyun or Changmin become too bothersome, we’ll kick them out.”
Kyuhyun tried to protest but Henry just waved him off. “Thanks Mr. Joo.”
Changmin joined them after they had already warmed Henry up, and Zhou Mi barely glanced at him as he sat down next to Kyuhyun and watched as Henry ran through the piece again.
“You should get up here and sing with me,” Henry snarked when he realized Changmin was beginning to laugh at him struggling with some of the notes. “We’re both singing the same song, right?” He looked to Zhou Mi for confirmation and he nodded.
Changmin snorted and Zhou Mi sighed. “Get up and join him, or get out.”
He saw Kyuhyun’s eyes darken at the tone he took and Zhou Mi looked away as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself. But he filed that little fact away for the future. Maybe he would use it later tonight.
Changmin slowly got up, and joined Henry. Together the two of them ran through the song three more times, and each time Zhou Mi corrected them on everything. By the end both of them were frustrated and Kyuhyun was just sitting, watching them amused.
Henry grabbed his backpack. “Well I have to get going. Mr. Lee is having extra dance practice and he’s bringing a couple of his friends to help us. I’ll see you tomorrow?” He gave Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun a look before waving to Changmin.
“We’ll see you tomorrow,” Kyuhyun called, slowly going about getting his things packed up, even as Changmin shuffled impatiently beside him.
“Hurry up,” he called, tapping his foot impatiently. “Don’t make me drag you out of this classroom.”
Kyuhyun continued to move at the same pace, and then he began unpacking, pulling out a sheet of music. “Don’t worry about me. I’m going to stay for extra practice with Mr. Joo.”
“You don’t need extra practice. Now come on.” He barely spared a glance at Zhou Mi as he said it, and Zhou Mi felt rather invisible and useless.
Kyuhyun just shook his head, going to the piano and handing the sheet music to Zhou Mi. “I want this solo Changmin. Mr. Joo can make sure I get it.”
“Man, even now that you’re single I can’t spend any time with you.”
Kyuhyun laughed, and he shoved Changmin towards the door. “I promise I’ll spend some time with you during the summer. Until then I have to practice. You were the one who told me not to waste my talent.”
“Selfish brat,” Changmin groaned, letting himself get pushed through the door with barely a wave towards Zhou Mi. Kyuhyun shut the door with a sigh and looked back to Zhou Mi with a smile.
“Sorry about that.”
Zhou Mi waved his hand. “It’s okay. You can go out with him. I don’t mind.”
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “I don’t want to go out with him. I want to spend as much time as I can with you.” Zhou Mi ducked his head, hiding his smile. “Besides, I can’t hang out with him anyway. Kibum gets out of class at seven, and I have work in an hour so it’s not like he and I could spend any time together.”
Zhou Mi licked his lips, thinking. “You have work?”
Kyuhyun nodded. “Six to twelve. I sorta skipped the last couple of days, so I really need to go in.” He had the decency to look sheepish at least and Zhou Mi let out a sigh.
“And then I guess you’re going to go to your house?” It sounded better than saying your parents’ house.
Kyuhyun shrugged. “Dunno. I was hoping that you’d come along, and watch. And then we’d go back to yours.”
Zhou Mi refused to ask about his parents, and so he just nodded, grabbing his briefcase with a sigh. Like for some reason it pained him to spend time with Kyuhyun. “I suppose.” He dragged out the word, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face for too long, not with the quirked eyebrow Kyuhyun was shooting him.
“You suppose? Well maybe I retract my offer,” Kyuhyun said with a laugh, as he opened the door, stepping into the hallway.
“That’s fine. Maybe I didn’t want to go see you work,” Zhou Mi laughed as well, looking down at Kyuhyun with a fond smile. He was really tempted to wrap his arm around Kyuhyun’s shoulder, pull him close. Not yet though. There were still a few students and teachers wandering the halls. But once they were outside, walking down into the subway he’d press himself close to Kyuhyun, maybe even kiss him.
Yeah that sounded like a plan.
The room to the theatre opened just as they were passing it and Ryeowook and Jongwoon came out. Kyuhyun was still laughing at Zhou Mi, but he broke off to smile at both of them. Zhou Mi noticed the look Ryeowook shot them, looking up and down for any out of place clothing no doubt.
“Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim,” Kyuhyun said with a smile, and Jongwoon responded in kind.
“Kyuhyun, correct?” He glanced at Zhou Mi with a grin. “I take it you’re taking advantage of Mr. Joo’s generosity and asking him for help?”
Kyuhyun nodded and he really looked the picture of innocence. It was a good thing Jongwoon was focusing his attention entirely on Kyuhyun because Zhou Mi could feel his face heating up under the look he was getting from Ryeowook.
“Hey Mimi, how’s Sungmin?” Ryeowook piped up and Zhou Mi saw Kyuhyun’s eyes narrow just a fraction.
Jongwoon swung his head to look at Ryeowook, obviously confused. “Ryeowook,” he glanced at Kyuhyun, “I’m not sure it’s proper to talk about this in front of a student.”
Zhou Mi could understand why Ryeowook was doing this, but it didn’t make his urge to strangle his best friend any less.
“Sungmin,” Kyuhyun said the name slowly, like he was trying it out until it finally clicked. “Oh! Your friend, the one who helped me the night Henry broke up with me.”
And Zhou Mi wanted to go jump in a river now. Because Ryeowook’s eyes had narrowed, like he hadn’t been expecting that to come out, and Jongwoon just looked confused. Zhou Mi wanted to take pity on the poor man, because he was so out of the loop. But that would mean outing it all, and he didn’t really want to do that.
“I really liked Sungmin,” Kyuhyun was saying, smiling at Zhou Mi, but he could see the blank look in his eyes, the one he got when he was just pretending. It meant he was hurt. He turned back to look at Ryeowook. “He helped me get back with Henry.”
The smile was pure evil on Kyuhyun’s face, and Jongwoon looked back and forth between Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and Zhou Mi. He still couldn’t even begin to understand what was going on.
Ryeowook smiled politely. “I like Sungmin as well. He’s good for Mimi.”
Zhou Mi wondered if he would have to hold Kyuhyun back from throwing his textbooks at Ryeowook, but Kyuhyun only nodded. “I thought Mr. Joo had been looking happier lately.” He gave a small bow to both of them, nodding his head towards Zhou Mi. “I have to get going home, if that’s okay with you. Thank you for helping me Mr. Joo.”
Zhou Mi’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth as Jongwoon waved Kyuhyun off, the perplexed look still on his face. Ryeowook’s eyes snapped back to Zhou Mi once Kyuhyun had walked away and Zhou Mi hoped that he wouldn’t say anything.
“Ryeowook, what was that about?” Jongwoon asked, once Kyuhyun was far enough down the hall.
Zhou Mi wondered if this is where he could make his great escape, and let Ryeowook explain whatever he wanted. Jongwoon looked at him next and he realized he couldn’t just run. That would just raise more questions. So instead he waited patiently for Ryeowook to explain himself.
“What? Sungmin had said he met Kyuhyun, so I thought it would be okay to ask about him in front of Kyuhyun. Who is he going to tell?”
“But it’s not appropriate,” Jongwoon said lamely, not sure if he believed what he was saying.
Zhou Mi wanted to snap in agreement, say that it wasn’t appropriate and that he had just outed him to his own student, and how would it feel if he were in his shoes, but he couldn’t do that. Because Ryeowook was his friend. And deep down he meant well.
“It’s fine. Like Kyuhyun said, we helped him deal with breaking up with Henry, and then getting back with him. They are both very grateful.” He smiled at both of them and started to head to the door. Maybe if he ran once he was outside he would catch up with Kyuhyun. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He didn’t wait for either of them to say goodbye, because now that they were alone Ryeowook was probably going to explain himself some more, and Jongwoon was hopefully going to understand. Zhou Mi didn’t want the two of them to get into a fight. Unless of course, this caused a fight between him and Kyuhyun. In which case he hoped Jongwoon broke Ryeowook’s heart and forced him to go back to Henry, who hopefully had enough to sense to say no thanks.
He was still deep in dark thoughts as he walked out of the school gates and he almost walked right passed Kyuhyun waiting against the wall. He stopped in his tracks and looked right at Kyuhyun, who was smiling.
“Hey,” he said softly.
Kyuhyun just shook his head and pushed himself off the wall and started walking to the subway. Zhou Mi followed after him, wanting to reach out and touch him, but they were still too close to the school.
“Ryeowook worries about you I see.”
“Yeah,” Zhou Mi said slowly, not sure where Kyuhyun was going with this.
“You know Henry does the same thing?” Zhou Mi looked at Kyuhyun, not sure if he believed that and Kyuhyun laughed as he explained. “Not when we’re all together, but when we’re alone, he’ll always check to make sure I’m happy. He keeps saying he doesn’t want me to make the same mistake he did. I’ve told him it’s different, you and I, because of how we met, but,” he shrugged, “he still worries.”
“If you know why he’s doing it then why heckle Ryeowook. I thought you liked him.”
“I do. And I really respect him, but honestly, it’s none of his business. And he hurt my friend.” Kyuhyun reached out and grabbed Zhou Mi’s hand. “And I don’t mean just Henry.” Zhou Mi swallowed. “You don’t want him to be mad at you, but he keeps being mad. I can’t let that go Mimi.”
Zhou Mi squeezed his hand, not sure what to say. All he knew was that he was touched by Kyuhyun’s words.
“Thanks,” he finally said, when they were pressed together in the subway and the only way he could be heard was to literally breathe into Kyuhyun’s ear. Kyuhyun turning his head and stealing a quick kiss was just an added bonus.
Once they got to the longue Zhou Mi headed to the bar, because he knew he would be there a while, and Kyuhyun headed to the back, taking their bags with him so he could store them. The bartender barely gave Zhou Mi a glance as he poured him a glass of water, and he turned in his seat to get a better look at the small stage so he could see when Kyuhyun came out.
The pieces he sang were old time smooth jazz tonight. Sometimes they had him sing trot, if the crowd was in for it, but Zhou Mi knew that Kyuhyun’s voice didn’t always mold to fit it accurately. He tried though. But tonight it was smooth jazz, and so Zhou Mi got to hear him accompanied by only the piano before the brass picked up and nice and slow.
A few couples gave into the temptation of dancing one or two songs, as Kyuhyun stood there in his uniform, white collared shirt, black vest and pants. Zhou Mi couldn’t take his eyes off of him.
“I see you two are back together.”
Zhou Mi glanced, afraid for a moment, and then realized it was the bartender. He’d never been outright friendly to Zhou Mi since he had started dating Kyuhyun at the end of January, and Zhou Mi had finally understood why once he had found out how old Kyuhyun was. But he had always filled up Zhou Mi’s glass, and never said anything.
Zhou Mi looked down into his drink. After the third hour he had switched from water to liquor. “Yup.” There was no use denying it, at least not here.
The bartender nodded, and then he filled up Zhou Mi’s drink. “Good. Cause that was a crap move you pulled bringing your other thing here.” Zhou Mi opened his mouth to argue that that hadn’t been his idea but the bartender shot him a look. “So whatever it was, his age, your job, whatever. I’m glad it’s over.”
For a moment Zhou Mi’s mouth couldn’t work because the bartender knew, and it was okay for Henry to know, because he wasn’t going to say anything, but Zhou Mi didn’t know anything about this guy. And then he saw the bartender’s slight smile, and his brain caught up with his worry. He didn’t know, not specifically anyway. He just was guessing. Zhou Mi let out a breath and nodded.
“We’re working on it.” Because what more could he say?
“Well keep working on it.”
Zhou Mi raised his glass to Kyuhyun as he finished up the song.
On Friday Changmin came right as they started, and joined Henry for practice without being asked. Kyuhyun tried to give pointers this time, but most of what he had to say were generally unhelpful. Zhou Mi figured it had to do with Changmin, and whatever kind of banter the two thought was amusing that day.
“I think you’re going to just have to replace your vocal chords,” Kyuhyun said looking at the ceiling and leaning back in his chair. Zhou Mi had given up correcting him on how he was supposed to sit in the chairs. He did it in class, and that’s all that mattered.
“I don’t think they have surgery for that. But want to know what they have surgery for?”
“Brain transfers so that way you can think of better comebacks?”
Changmin threw the music book at him just as the door opened and Ryeowook popped his head in. Kyuhyun dropped the chair back to all four legs, holding the book to his chest as he stared at Ryeowook. Zhou Mi glanced around the piano and frowned. He was trying to ignore how still Henry had gone.
“Yes?”
Ryeowook looked at each of them, smile on his face. “I had just finished my last class, and wanted to invite you to dinner with me and Jongwoon. Sungmin said he’d be willing to stop by, Jongwoon already asked.”
Zhou Mi’s frown deepened, but he stopped himself from saying what he really wanted to say. “I’ll see. I don’t know how long I’m going to be.” He glanced at Kyuhyun, but Kyuhyun was just looking at Henry, who was resolutely looking at the ground.
“Oh it’s no problem. I can wait,” Ryeowook smiled even wider, coming further into the room. “I don’t mind watching you guys practice, if you don’t mind.”
Kyuhyun stood up, looking at the clock up on the wall. “Hey Henry, didn’t you say you had to be home soon?”
Henry looked up at him, and Changmin just tilted his head to the side, opening his mouth to say something but he stopped when Kyuhyun wrapped his arm around Henry, pulling him to where their book bags were stashed.
“Sorry Mr. Joo, we didn’t even realize how long we had been here.” Zhou Mi could see that the grip he had on Henry’s shoulder was tight, but Henry was going along with it, and even tried to smile a bit.
“Yeah, sorry. I completely forgot. Thanks for reminding me,” he looked at Kyuhyun, and only Kyuhyun as he smiled. Zhou Mi couldn’t tell if he was shaking, but he wouldn’t blame him.
Ryeowook stepped back, smile slipping as Kyuhyun led Henry out of the room, Changmin slowly following behind them.
“Have a good weekend Mr. Joo.”
“You too Changmin,” Zhou Mi called out weakly, still sitting behind the piano.
That had happened much too fast.
Zhou Mi felt his phone go off in his pocket, and he figured it was text from Kyuhyun telling him something. Or maybe it was Sungmin telling him about dinner. Either way he wasn’t going to look now.
Ryeowook was looking at the door and Zhou Mi wanted to shove it in his face that yes the two of them are dating, isn’t Kyuhyun just the perfect boyfriend, going in there and rescuing his beloved from the big mean ex. The lie would make him feel better. And Kyuhyun would get a laugh out of it. Maybe Henry would too. But it seemed like Henry would rather not hear or see Ryeowook at the moment.
And Henry was who Kyuhyun was looking after right now, so Zhou Mi would do his part and make sure that Ryeowook stayed distracted and stopped thinking about him.
“So you say Sungmin is coming?”
Ryeowook blinked, taken aback. He obviously hadn’t been expecting that. But he nodded. “Yeah, he’s going to meet Jongwoon at the place.”
Zhou Mi smiled and grabbed his bag, heading for the door. “Well let’s not keep them waiting.”
“Sungmin had said he hadn’t heard from you all week, so we thought about surprising you.” Ryeowook seemed to be using the lines he must have practiced, the ones he had made up in case he had to appease Zhou Mi’s anger.
“Yeah, I’ve been busy with this whole mess.”
“Jongwoon’s been the same,” Ryeowook said, walking towards the gate. “I guess I had it easy.”
Zhou Mi shrugged and continued to make small talk with Ryeowook as they made their way to the restaurant. Halfway there he checked the text he had gotten. It simply read We’ll pick up on Monday then :)
Well there went their entire weekend plans. They hadn’t even made too many besides lay in bed until two in the afternoon.
Sungmin was sitting in the booth already when they got there, drink in hand, and he lit up when he saw Zhou Mi, reaching over Jongwoon to pull him down in between himself and Jongwoon. Zhou Mi tried to smile back. He was already getting exhausted with the fake act; he had never been any good at it.
“Your drinks are on the way,” Jongwoon announced as he took hold of Ryeowook’s hand.
“Hey stranger,” Sungmin said, squeezing Zhou Mi’s hand, and it was obvious he wasn’t sure if he should lean up for a kiss or not.
“Hey,” Zhou Mi responded weakly, trying for tired. Maybe it would get him out of here as soon as possible. He was still upset at his plans with Kyuhyun being canceled. But Ryeowook had taken the seat next to Jongwoon, practically in his lap, and Zhou Mi knew he was still being watched, no matter how good his act had been so far. So he leaned down, pressing a quick kiss to the corner of Sungmin’s mouth. “Missed you,” he muttered and Sungmin’s smile turned lazy.
“Missed you too. Still busy with work?”
“Not for the whole weekend,” he forced out, because it was true now. Kyuhyun was probably going to spend the weekend with Changmin and his boyfriend, and sleep in his own bed. And see his parents.
Maybe Zhou Mi should give his own parents a call. That would be a good thing to do.
Sungmin was grinning. “So when is this whole recital going to be over?”
“End of the semester,” Jongwoon said, shifting Ryeowook slightly, but keeping him in his lap.
Sungmin nodded. “I take it that means you’re going to be keeping Zhou Mi away from me until then.” He squeezing Zhou Mi’s hand to show he was just joking.
Zhou Mi was too distracted by the lack of guilt he felt in his gut to respond right away, but he forced a smile back on his face. “Yeah, unfortunately. But once summer comes I’ll make it up to you.”
And he stepped in it. That wasn’t what he had wanted to say at all, and now Sungmin was tightening his grip on Zhou Mi’s hand and smiling like Zhou Mi had just said something ridiculously romantic.
“So is Kyuhyun going to audition?” Zhou Mi blinked at Sungmin, unsure why he was asking and Sungmin only shrugged, probably able to read his face. “It’s the only student of yours I know.”
“Yeah he’s invited, even thought he’s only a second year student and we wanted to invite only the seniors.”
“I think he deserves the solo,” Sungmin said, wiping his finger on the condensation of his glass. “He’s got an amazing voice.”
Jongwoon nodded. “Oh, we were talking about you the other day,” he said and Zhou Mi tensed up as Sungmin tilted his head to the side.
“Really?”
Jongwoon nudged Ryeowook. “Yeah, Ryeowook asked Zhou Mi about you while he and Kyuhyun were leaving from practice.”
“Oh, you’re helping him out are you?” Sungmin poked Zhou Mi’s side with a laugh. “You have such a soft spot for him.” He laughed as Zhou Mi was unable to stop the way his face heated up. “It’s okay, I understand.” He leaned against Zhou Mi’s shoulder. “I liked him too.”
Jongwoon laughed. “You know that’s exactly what he said about you. I’m beginning to think you guys met for drinks and not just where he was working.”
Sungmin grinned. “Well he works at a bar, so drinks may have been involved.” He glanced at Zhou Mi, like he was asking permission to say something, but Zhou Mi couldn’t even begin to imagine what he was asking. There was a pause as their first round of drinks arrived and Zhou Mi grabbed hold of his. He could smell the liquor from here, so he knew it was strong.
“So he knew that you two were dating?” Jongwoon asked, like he was making sure that Kyuhyun had known that the two of them were dating.
Sungmin nodded. “Yeah, why? Did it come up?” He asked with a laugh.
Jongwoon shrugged, not elaborating, and like that they were moving on, talking about something else, how cheap the liquor was here, and how crappy the music choices could get. Yesung said something about 80s English Hair Metal and Sungmin laughed.
It didn’t warm Zhou Mi like it would have even a week ago. He swallowed the rest of his drink to that thought, and ordered something stronger. He knew he was going to need it.
It took two more drinks to try and get his head straight. By the time Sungmin had stopped laughing with Jongwoon, and put a hand on his bicep he was dizzy. And drunk. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been drunk, truly physically drunk. He wasn’t sure he was at the stage of vomiting yet, but he could already tell that the ride home was gonna suck.
“Hey, Mimi,” Sungmin said softly, pressed up against his side. “You okay?” He shook his head and Sungmin wrapped an arm around his waist. “Here, let’s get you back to yours.” He nodded to Jongwoon and Ryeowook, pulling Zhou Mi out of the booth. “It was great, but I should get him home.”
Home. Yes, that sounded like a good idea. He could call Kyuhyun and force him to come over and laugh at him. Though it probably wouldn’t have to take much. Maybe Kyuhyun was already there.
Wait.
Home was a bad idea.
“Not mine,” he mumbled into Sungmin’s shoulder. “Let’s go to yours. Want to go to yours.”
Kyuhyun was an awful influence on him.
Sungmin smiled faintly, adjusting him so he wasn’t swaying as much, and he pressed a kiss to Zhou Mi’s cheek. “Sure thing, let’s you get home.” He waved to Jongwoon and Ryeowook and guided Zhou Mi towards the door. Zhou Mi clung to him the whole time, and tries very hard not to throw up as the subway swayed.
Sungmin just sat there, like a pillar of strength, running his hands through Zhou Mi’s hair until they reached the stop for his apartment. Zhou Mi wasn’t feeling any better, still dizzy, because the train ride hadn’t helped at all. Sungmin did he best to keep Zhou Mi okay as they made their way the few blocks to his apartment, and as they reached the door Zhou Mi realized he couldn’t go in there. If he went in there he would spend the night. And he would wake up tomorrow morning, and Sungmin would have gotten them food and something for his headache, and there would be cuddling, because Zhou Mi couldn’t say no.
And cuddling would lead to sex and he couldn’t do that to Kyuhyun.
“I need to go home,” he muttered and Sungmin sshed him, hand rubbing up and down his back.
“We’re almost there,” he tried to reassure.
“No. My apartment. Can’t. I’m too drunk.” What could he say to make this easier?
“Yes you are drunk. That’s why you’re coming inside,” Sungmin said, and his voice was soothing. He was running his fingers up and down Zhou Mi’s side and it felt good, but he had latched onto the thought and he couldn’t let it go. If he went inside he might as well break up with Kyuhyun. And he couldn’t do that.
“No. Don’t want you to see me like this.”
Sungmin laughed at that. “Please, it’s fine Mimi. I’m sure this won’t be the last time, and soon enough you’ll see me completely smashed. Just wait for our next album.”
“Don’t call me Mimi,” he snapped out. Or at least he tried to. It came out too slurred though, and that might have taken some of the sting out of the words.
Sungmin still looked taken aback. “What?”
“I hate it. Don’t call me it,” Zhou Mi pulled himself away from Sungmin’s grip and leaned against the wall. “I hate it tonight.” He took some deep breaths and Sungmin let him stand the few feet away, merely watching. Zhou Mi swallowed, realizing that needed to say something. “I’m an awful drunk.”
A small smile crossed Sungmin’s lips and he reached for Zhou Mi. “It’s okay. I’m a pretty awful drunk myself. Now let’s get inside.”
“No.” Zhou Mi said it with conviction and he looked right in Sungmin’s eye. “I need to go home.” He stumbled forward and even if Sungmin wanted to protest Zhou Mi didn’t let him have any time. “I’m going home.”
Sungmin sighed. “Alright, let me come then.”
Zhou Mi thought about the mess he and Kyuhyun had made, and hadn’t cleaned up from the night before. Kyuhyun’s clothes were probably still thrown over the couch, and he was pretty sure they still had the lube left on the kitchen counter. No. Sungmin couldn’t come to his apartment.
“I just want to make sure you get home fine.”
“I’ll take a cab. Don’t worry about me Sungmin!” He practically shouted the last part because he was getting fed up. He wanted to get home. He wanted to call Kyuhyun. He wanted to scream because he didn’t want to be drunk, he wanted to be watching bad cop movies on his couch, and then putting on something sappy and romantic that Kyuhyun would throw books at.
Sungmin froze at the entranceway of his apartment. Zhou Mi stumbled out onto the street and raised his hand, trying to flag a taxi. He half expected to turn around and see Sungmin having gone inside, but he still stood there, face stricken until he realized he was being watched. His shoulders sagged and he came fully outside, grabbing Zhou Mi’s hand and helping him get into the cab when it finally pulled over.
“I love you, Zhou Mi,” he said quietly, pressing a kiss to his forehead before nodding for the taxi driver that he could go.
It was two stoplights before Zhou Mi fumbled to get his phone out of his pocket, and called Kyuhyun. He didn’t think he would pick up. He had said they’d pick up on Monday. He had been giving Zhou Mi the weekend to get his shit together. Take the weekend off from them and take care of Sungmin. No regrets. Like they weren’t even together. But Zhou Mi couldn’t do that. And he didn’t know if Kyuhyun could either.
Kyuhyun didn’t answer. Not the first time. Nor the second. Nor at four a.m. when Zhou Mi woke up, and threw up in the wastebasket by their bed. He had laughed miserably when he realized he had started thinking like that. And then he had rolled his head back and silently begged for someone to put him out of his misery.
Kyuhyun was smiling on Monday. Zhou Mi just wanted to grab him and hold him. He hadn’t tried Kyuhyun anymore once he had woken up on Saturday, hung over and with no messages on his own phone except an apology from Ryeowook and a text asking Zhou Mi if he was feeling better. But he couldn’t do anything with Kyuhyun, couldn’t even talk with him, because he had fifty-four students to audition over the course of the day.
The first time he saw Kyuhyun was during audition. He was perfect, as Zhou Mi had expected. Jongwoon had just rolled his eyes and put a star next to his name. They had both tried to come into auditions with an open mind, but certain places were set in stone, and they both knew it. Jaejoong Kim was one, so was Jiyeon Lee.
The few places that they hadn’t already decided though, were easy to fill once they had seen what they had to work with. The rest of the day was spent pairing the fifteen students up. So Zhou Mi still didn’t see Kyuhyun until after his last class, when he finally went back to his classroom to see Kyuhyun waiting.
“So did I make it?”
And just like that, no mention of the weekend. Like nothing had happened. Zhou Mi wished he could be that nonchalant.
“I didn’t do anything with Sungmin.”
“I know.”
Zhou Mi looked at him, really looked at him, and he could see the worry slowly fading from his eyes, and the creases in his forehead softening. He hadn’t known until Zhou Mi had said something, but he had been hoping.
“I just wanted to clear that up.”
Kyuhyun was silent for a moment and then he reached for Zhou Mi’s hand. “Thanks. It means a lot to me.” He broke into a grin, and he tugged on his hand. “Now tell me, did I make it?”
Zhou Mi rolled his eye, feeling the pressure in his chest lessen. “You’ll find out when everyone else finds out.”
Kyuhyun laughed. “Yeah, okay. Now tell me. I made it right? Who am I working with?”
“You’ll find out tomorrow,” Zhou Mi tried again, pulling Kyuhyun towards him. “For now all you need to worry about is what movie we’re going to go see.”
“Movie?”
Zhou Mi nodded. “Yup, movie. I figure celebration is in order for a successful audition. So I’m going to take you out.”
Kyuhyun’s eyebrows pulled together and then he broke into a big smile. “So you mean I got in right?”
Zhou Mi laughed, but didn’t answer. And he still hadn’t answered by the time they got to the theatre, despite how much Kyuhyun whined, and kept asking.
“I don’t even want to go to see a movie. Why spend our money here? Let’s just watch one of those crap films on the television,” Kyuhyun tried to persuade but Zhou Mi just lead them into the theatre and pushed him down one of the back rows.
Once they were settled Zhou Mi waited for a couple moments, seeing how long Kyuhyun would continue to complain. He found it almost endearing that he could ramble for that long, and that patiently. Persistency was a good trait. He liked it in Kyuhyun. When it looked like Kyuhyun had no intention of slowing down, even beginning to complain loud enough to draw the attention from the people sitting around them, and there weren’t that many, Zhou Mi leaned down and whispered in his ear, “I didn’t take you here to see the movie.”
Kyuhyun’s mouth snapped closed and he slunk down in his seat, eyes taking in the few people who were in the theatre. “Oh,” he said.
“Yeah. Oh,” Zhou Mi said with a smirk. “I told you. It was a celebration.”
Kyuhyun chuckled, fingers moving to dance over Zhou Mi’s kneecap. “Of course a celebration would mean public sex.”
Zhou Mi hushed him, and Kyuhyun grinned. The trailers had started, loud in the small theatre, and he leaned over to kiss Zhou Mi. Their skin brightened as the screen flashed over and over with explosions and then calming scenery. Their seats practically shook as the sound system played too loudly, but Kyuhyun kept focused on Zhou Mi’s mouth.
Zhou Mi cursed as they broke apart, Kyuhyun’s lips moving to travel down his neck. “We should be quick,” Kyuhyun muttered, and Zhou Mi moaned, wondering why they had to be quick. This movie was ninety minutes. “The couple to the side of us that just walked in is watching us.”
Zhou Mi laughed, curling his hand around Kyuhyun’s jaw to pull him back up for another deep kiss. “Then let them watch.”
“And get caught?”
“Sure, why not?” Zhou Mi laughed a little and glanced at the couple to the side of them. Sure enough they were watching and he pulled away from Kyuhyun, acting like he was going back to watch the movie. He pretended he didn’t see Kyuhyun wave at them, before he too settled back in his seat.
“It’s going to be hard with them right there,” Kyuhyun whispered, leaning up, and he nibbled lightly on Zhou Mi’s ear before he pulled away.
Zhou Mi smirked, eyes still on the screen as he moved his hand over the armrest. The woman was still glancing at them occasionally, but she couldn’t see his hand trail up Kyuhyun’s thigh, nudging for him to spread them. Kyuhyun was already hard, and Zhou Mi ran his fingertips over the bulge in his trousers, smirking as Kyuhyun’s shoulders relaxed and he closed his eyes.
“Missed me?” He asked, glancing away from the screen long enough to watch Kyuhyun’s adams’ apple bob as he swallowed.
“Yeah,” Kyuhyun muttered. “Just a bit.”
Zhou Mi tried to take it slow, but as he traced Kyuhyun’s zipper he felt his heart speeding up and he pulled it down quickly. Kyuhyun let out a hiss and his hips raised up as he tried to roll them to free his erection. Zhou Mi risked kissing his neck quickly, before he went back to staring at the movie.
He didn’t even know what was going on. He had just picked this movie because it had gotten awful reviews and no one wanted to go see it. He focused all his attention on his hand, wrapping around Kyuhyun’s cock and stroking it slowly.
Kyuhyun bucked his hips again, and Zhou Mi stroked his hand downward, meeting the thrust. It was awkward, the angle, but Kyuhyun didn’t seem to mind. His pupils were practically blown, a mixture of the dark and how hard he was no doubt. He was also beginning to sweat as he tried to bite his lips and force himself not to be too loud.
Zhou Mi kept his eyes glued to the screen the whole time, even when Kyuhyun’s hand joined his, guiding him in how to fist around his cock, and move up and down.
Kyuhyun rolled his head and let out a moan. “Fuck I wish you could suck on me.”
Zhou Mi smirked and turned his head, kissing him deeply, couple near them be damned. Kyuhyun gasped, arching up and they moved their hands faster. Zhou Mi was hard, but he didn’t care, focused entirely on Kyuhyun and watching him as his head fell back, and the blue and green from the screen lit up his skin as he flushed and came.
His chest was heaving, and he was still jerking his hips. Zhou Mi couldn’t look away. Couldn’t even check if they were being watched because Kyuhyun looked gorgeous like this.
His eyes opened and he reached for Zhou Mi. Only then did Zhou Mi remember where they were, because Kyuhyun was dropping to the floor, getting to his knees and undoing Zhou Mi’s zipper. He swallowed, looking to where the couple was, and wasn’t sure if he was relieved that they weren’t there or not. Maybe they moved. Maybe they were going to report them. Maybe cops were coming right now.
And maybe it didn’t matter because Kyuhyun’s mouth was wet and hot around his cock. He grabbed a fistful of Kyuhyun’s hair and forced him all the way down. He didn’t care about slow, and Kyuhyun slacked his jaw, hollowed his cheeks and took it.
Explosions were going off, and it drowned out the sound of his heart racing, but just barely. He wasn’t looking at the screen anymore, and didn’t care about the sounds of children screaming, because Kyuhyun’s eyes were shut tight as he let him fuck his mouth. Zhou Mi bit his lip, trying to be quiet, but he was glad it was still an action scene because when he pulled Kyuhyun away, coming on his face and neck, he knew he made noise. Too much noise actually.
It didn’t matter though.
Zhou Mi leaned down and kissed Kyuhyun deep, tongue licking off the come from his cheek and neck. Kyuhyun shuddered, and when he was clean he kissed Zhou Mi again before getting back in his seat.
The action scene was still going but Zhou Mi could barely hear it. And no usher was coming to arrest them or kick them out, so he let his legs become jelly. He deserved that at least.
“Want to watch the end of this movie?” Kyuhyun asked with a smirk.
Zhou Mi just nodded. “No choice, I can’t move.”
Chapter 7
Author: kayevelyn
Fandom: Super Junior
Pairing: Qmi
Rating: +17
Summary: AU Kyuhyun is part of Zhou Mi's new high school class. Zhou Mi has been sleeping with him for two months. This is all very awkward.
Notes: For umberela. Thanks for betaing for me at.... 1 in the morning :) So I know this is late but I have an excuse. Just saying... so no I didn't forget. To make up for it here's 9,500 words \o///
Oh and if you didn't already know this is my thread for help_japan and you can find a list of other Suju authors who are participating here. Bidding ends March 30th at 6PM EST, and just a heads up, I'll probably be doing the lightening rounds that they'll be having :)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
It was nice waking up to someone, even if they had to get up at five in the morning after finally falling asleep at three thirty. Zhou Mi couldn’t even remember what they had been talking about. He had just been staring at the ceiling, in the dark, while they tried to say anything that came to mind. They didn’t want the night to end it seemed. Kyuhyun had clung to him, leg thrown over Zhou Mi’s knees while they had laid there, his head buried into his shoulder.
As Zhou Mi brushed his teeth he vaguely remembered a lot of the talk being about how bony he was. He frowned and glanced at Kyuhyun, getting dressed behind him. His uniform was dirty, and no doubt anyone who wanted to pay attention would notice that it was the exact same one from the day before.
He poked Kyuhyun’s rib, watching as he jumped just a bit, before turning to Zhou Mi and smiling, despite how tired he was.
“I haff your swirt,” he said around his toothbrush and he pointed to his bedroom.
Kyuhyun raised an amused eyebrow and paused in buttoning up his shirt. “What?”
Zhou Mi spit out his toothpaste and finished rinsing his mouth before he spoke again. “I have one of your shirts.”
Kyuhyun looked down at his wrinkled uniform shirt and then removed it. When he came back into the bathroom he was wearing the clean shirt, and though it wasn’t a uniform shirt, it still looked better than wearing the same shirt two days in a row.
“I’m going to put together lunch for us, alright?” Kyuhyun said, after he had tied his tie and flattened his hair out. He still looked tired but he was smiling and Zhou Mi nodded, figuring that Kyuhyun couldn’t make anything too bad.
He’d bring some money just in case.
They were out the door and on the subway by six thirty, brown paper bags holding their lunches clutched in their hands. The subway was just as crowded as normal, and it was just like the day before. Zhou Mi would lean down and whisper into Kyuhyun’s ear, muttering about the way that one businessman kept looking at that girl’s cell phone, and they both laughed as the boy who fell asleep holding onto the railing and almost fell over. And like yesterday Zhou Mi didn’t notice if anyone was looking at the two of them, and the fact that they were pressed too close together, or that Kyuhyun kept looking at his lips every time he spoke.
He didn’t even mind the fact that Kyuhyun walked through the gates with him, and followed him into his classroom, stashing his bag behind Zhou Mi’s desk. He just laughed and shook his head.
“Don’t you have a locker?”
Kyuhyun shrugged, leaning over to get out his English workbook, and a few notebooks. “I’m just going to be back for lunch, and then I finish my day here, so I don’t see why I should bother using my locker. It’s not like anyone is going to steal it from you.”
Zhou Mi sighed, not able to argue with that and pulled Kyuhyun in for a quick kiss. When they broke apart Kyuhyun was grinning widely before he stepped back.
“I’ll see you at lunch,” Kyuhyun said with a smile, grabbing the books he needed for his class and leaving.
Zhou Mi smiled and headed back to his desk, intent on going over the list of students they were sending invitations to auditions to before meeting with Jongwoon. Currently there were twenty-five names in each category, and they only wanted to have five solos. They planned to have three students working together; a composer, a songwriter, and a soloist. The composer and songwriter would be in charge of auditioning students to perform the music live for the performance, and if they decided to make it a duet, they would have to do the auditions for that as well. Zhou Mi, Jongwoon and Ryeowook were only going to be there for guidance.
There was a knock on his door and Zhou Mi looked up, knowing it was probably Jongwoon. Even now he still insisted on knocking on the door.
“Come in,” Zhou Mi called, because he didn’t want to get up yet.
Sure enough Jongwoon opened the door, peeking his head in. “Ready for this meeting?”
Zhou Mi laughed, patting the folder on his desk. “Sure. We only have seventy-five students to wade through.”
Jongwoon made a face as he pulled a chair up to Zhou Mi’s desk. “Seventy-five? Why are there so many talented students at this school?”
“I don’t know. Probably has to do with this being an art school.”
Jongwoon snorted and picked up the first folder. “Well we can definitely make the audition pool smaller. I don’t feel like inviting seventy-five students to try out.”
Zhou Mi laughed again. “Sure thing.”
They started by removing any of the students whose grades were not up to par. That didn’t lower the number by too much, and then they started going by their own evaluations of the students.
“Again I ask, why are there so many talented students at this school?”
Zhou Mi glanced at the clock; they had ten minutes left before his first class. “And again I say, it’s probably because this is an art school.”
Jongwoon made a face and crossed off another name. “Well we have it down to sixty students. I would have liked to make it at least 30.”
Zhou Mi looked at the list of names and pursed his lips. “We could always just start crossing off random names.”
“Don’t tempt me,” Jongwoon said with a laugh. “Start at the beginning and just remove every other name.”
“Could work.” But Zhou Mi knew they weren’t serious, and by the end of the meeting they had whittled it down to 54 names.
Jongwoon leaned back in his seat and looked over the list one more time. “Well I guess I’ll hand out the invitations to my students. You’ll do your students?”
“Unless they decide to be brats to me,” Zhou Mi said with a laugh as he leaned back in his seat, watching Jongwoon pack up his things.
“Well then I guess we will get down to that thirty number I want,” Jongwoon smirked and nodded his head before he headed to the door and left the room.
Zhou Mi sighed and started setting up for his next class. He just hoped that there wouldn’t be any drama while handing out the invitations.
“I can’t believe she cried,” Kyuhyun said. They were alone, waiting for Changmin and Henry to join them in Zhou Mi’s classroom, for practice. “It’s not like she was the only one who didn’t get picked for the auditions.”
“You’re so awful,” Zhou Mi muttered. In everything that he had imagined going wrong with handing out the invitations he hadn’t foreseen anyone crying because they hadn’t been picked. But it had happened. More than once.
“And I can’t believe you gave me a detention!”
“You were laughing at her Kui Xian! What was I supposed to do?”
Kyuhyun tried to keep a straight face but he eventually lost it, folding in on himself as he laughed. Zhou Mi just continued to stare at Kyuhyun until he was finished laughing, and then he would remind him that just because they were dating didn't mean he could excuse Kyuhyun's behavior. Kyuhyun finally pulled himself together, and he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand before looking at Zhou Mi and cracking another smile. "I think you only gave me the detention so that way we could be alone together."
Zhou Mi pointed his finger right at Kyuhyun, a mock-frown on his face. "No."
Kyuhyun fell back into his seat laughing. "You did. This has nothing to do with me laughing, and you know I wasn't the only one who laughed."
"You're just the only one I can punish."
Kyuhyun stuck out his tongue. "Kinky."
"You're awful," Zhou Mi repeated. "Absolutely awful."
Kyuhyun was about to reply, probably something cheesy that would just make Zhou Mi mentally flounder like it's why you love me, but Henry saved him that embarrassment. Because he wasn't sure it was healthy to want to reply yes, yes it is. And please never change. It was probably something that you were warned about in school, relationship types to avoid. Well, honestly this whole fiasco should have been avoided, but Zhou Mi had made his choice.
Henry looked between the two of them before speaking. "So did you really laugh when Chaemin started to cry because she didn't get invited to audition? Because if so, Tiffany is going to gut you."
Kyuhyun frowned. "Why? They aren't friends."
Zhou Mi sighed and said, "because Tiffany is a good person, unlike you," at the same time that Henry said, "because Tiffany is just looking for an excuse."
Kyuhyun continued to look perplexed. "I don't understand. Is it about Seohyun?"
Henry looked at Zhou Mi, and they shared a moment of experastion at Kyuhyun's lack of social skills.
"He's your boyfriend, you can explain common nicety to him," Henry finally settled on, heading to his seat and taking out what they had been working on in class. "Now can you please explain again what your love of folk songs is about." He waved the two sheets of music around and Zhou Mi let out a sigh, giving a look to Kyuhyun.
"I'll explain the way humanity works when we get home," he said with a fond smile and Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest and refusing to move until Changmin came in, asking the same question Henry had asked, and giving the same warning.
"You would have laughed too!" Kyuhyun said with sigh, rolling his head back and Zhou Mi had to stop himself from reaching forward to rubbing the back of his neck to relive the tension. Henry caught his eye and smothered a laugh in his hand.
"Well, yeah. But I wasn't there, and you were. And also the majority of the female population doesn't hate me," Changmin said with a smile, nudging Kyuhyun's shoulder lightly with his. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."
Kyuhyun shoved his shoulder back, shooting a glare at Changmin. "I hate you. Mi can I move? Or at least ban Changmin." He had raised his hand, throwing another look at Changmin as all three of them just looked at him.
Zhou Mi stared, and he saw Henry trying to make small gestures with his hand, possibly saying do something in some type of sign language. He swallowed and then cleared his throat. "I thought you weren't going to call me that during school hours." He could sense how much Henry wanted to face palm, and he wanted to go hide in a ditch right about now because that had come out much more inappropriate than he had wanted and now Changmin was blatantly staring.
Kyuhyun just rolled his eyes. "It's just Changmin. I didn't think it would be a problem." He looked at Changmin nonchalantly and Zhou Mi really envied how calm he could look sometimes. "Don't tell anyone we're on a first name basis. I only do it to bother him, and get back at him for not pronouncing my name right."
Changmin slowly nodded, looking at Zhou Mi apologetically. "On behalf of Kyuhyun, I apologize, and would like it to be known that I will never tell anyone how horrible of a person he is."
"Thanks. It's appreciated," Zhou Mi said as Kyuhyun slapped Changmin's shoulder, hard.
"Ow. That hurt."
"Good. Maybe it will remind you to stop making fun of me."
"Never," Changmin said with a laugh, sticking his tongue out.
Zhou Mi let out another sigh and looked for support in Henry. He didn't seem very supportive, if the way he was trying not to laugh was any indication. But Kyuhyun was smiling, and if this was how he had to spend his afternoons he couldn't find room to complain.
Especially when Kyuhyun followed Zhou Mi towards the subway car, instead of going with Changmin.
"I see how it is!" Changmin called over the throngs of people as he walked away.
"Goodbye!" Kyuhyun called with a laugh, waving his hand.
"Just ditch me! It's okay. Not like I miss you or anything!" He was shouting and Kyuhyun just laughed, moving down the line to get to their train.
"See you tomorrow!"
He latched onto Zhou Mi's arm once they were inside the subway, both hands squeezing his bicep tightly. Zhou Mi looked down at him, smiling fondly as they pressed close together in the subway car.
"What do you want to do for dinner?" He asked, leaning down to whisper in Kyuhyun's ear.
"I made lunch, so you can cook."
Zhou Mi laughed, reaching his hand up to clasp with one of Kyuhyun's. "I hardly consider putting cold cuts on bread 'cooking' but I guess I'll figure out something."
"You weren't complaining when you were eating it," Kyuhyun muttered, squeezing Zhou Mi's hand.
"That's cause I was hungry."
Kyuhyun laughed, turning and pressing his face into Zhou Mi's chest. "You're always hungry, and I've heard you complain about plenty of food."
Zhou Mi snorted. "That was not Chinese food. I don't know what it was, but they shouldn't have called it Chinese."
"So whiny," Kyuhyun said, poking Zhou Mi's side and looking up at him, nose wrinkled up. "So picky."
"Oh stop it," Zhou Mi looked away from him, and at the people crowding the door. They were almost at their stop. "Everyone is allowed to be a little picky."
Someone pushed by them to get off and Kyuhyun laughed as he was shoved into Zhou Mi's chest. He clung tighter, letting go of Zhou Mi's arm to wrap his own arms around Zhou Mi in a proper hug. Zhou Mi reciprocated, reaching up to rest his chin on Kyuhyun head. He could feel Kyuhyun breathing on his neck and he tried to stop himself from shuddering.
"Your chin is pointy."
"Yeah well your breath is soggy. See, allowed to be picky."
Kyuhyun pinched his side and Zhou Mi laughed, removing his chin to look back down at Kyuhyun. "Is it wrong to say that I'm really happy right now?" His voice was hushed, and Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. Underneath it though he could see how happy Kyuhyun looked at that statement.
"Considering we're on the subway, I could think of better places," he trailed off as Zhou Mi leaned down and whispered in his ear.
"I'll tell you again when we're alone."
Kyuhyun shuddered in his arms and Zhou Mi smiled against his ear.
Zhou Mi thought he could really get used to this: going home, eating dinner, sleeping beside someone, and then waking up next to them. Sure, in the back of his mind the big neon light was going off screaming honeymoon stage, honeymoon stage, and he knew it was, because morning breath wasn’t endearing. And showering together wasn’t something he wanted to do forever, but he said it anyway, and Kyuhyun had agreed, before putting soap in his hair.
He just hoped that next week he would still be as happy as he was this week. But for now he’d take it one day at a time.
And today was looking like another good day. Kyuhyun had gone up and apologized to Chaemin, and even though Zhou Mi knew his whole heart wasn’t in it, he had the decency to not tell her the true reason why he had laughed. (“Did you see how red she got?” “That’s not a good reason Kui Xian.” “But it’s the truth.” “Well sometimes it’s better to lie.” “I thought you didn’t like me lying.” “You are so frustrating!”)
So maybe social decency wasn’t sinking in quite as quickly as some people would like, but Zhou Mi didn’t mind because it was just a part of Kyuhyun. Slightly rude, but not always maliciously so. Sometimes he was stupid enough to find it endearing.
“Do I still have to serve my detention?” Kyuhyun asked, leaning over Zhou Mi’s desk.
He gave him a look, one that hopefully conveyed the idea that they were in a classroom that Henry and Changmin and who knows who else were going to walk in at any moment. Kyuhyun just arched an eyebrow and leaned down so their faces were inches apart.
Zhou Mi sighed, wanting to lean forward so badly. “Well do you want to?”
Kyuhyun smirked. “Can it be better than last time?”
Zhou Mi’s eyes narrowed as he remembered what Kyuhyun meant by last time. Before he could open his mouth to say anything negative Kyuhyun had leaned forward, kissing him. Zhou Mi faltered, not sure if he should pull away as Kyuhyun deepened the kiss. He must have felt awkward in that position, his elbows and wrists locked. It would be easy to knock him off balance and flip their positions.
Or maybe he should just let Kyuhyun take control for once. They hadn’t tried that nearly enough. As Kyuhyun moved one of his hands, reaching up to stroke Zhou Mi’s cheek and down to his neck, he wasn’t sure if they ever would.
“And this is why you lock doors,” Henry called and Zhou Mi tried to pull away, but Kyuhyun held onto him for another moment before finally breaking the kiss.
“And this is why you knock,” Kyuhyun called back, stepping away slowly, before turning to see that Henry was alone, looking exasperated but not mad. “Though it wasn’t like anyone but you could have come in.”
Henry just rolled his eyes. “I do actually want help okay. This is not me just,” he paused for a moment, before taking a deep breath and continuing on, “needing something to do anymore. I really do need the help.”
Zhou Mi let out a sigh, realizing what Henry was saying. “Okay. I will help you today. And if Kyuhyun or Changmin become too bothersome, we’ll kick them out.”
Kyuhyun tried to protest but Henry just waved him off. “Thanks Mr. Joo.”
Changmin joined them after they had already warmed Henry up, and Zhou Mi barely glanced at him as he sat down next to Kyuhyun and watched as Henry ran through the piece again.
“You should get up here and sing with me,” Henry snarked when he realized Changmin was beginning to laugh at him struggling with some of the notes. “We’re both singing the same song, right?” He looked to Zhou Mi for confirmation and he nodded.
Changmin snorted and Zhou Mi sighed. “Get up and join him, or get out.”
He saw Kyuhyun’s eyes darken at the tone he took and Zhou Mi looked away as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself. But he filed that little fact away for the future. Maybe he would use it later tonight.
Changmin slowly got up, and joined Henry. Together the two of them ran through the song three more times, and each time Zhou Mi corrected them on everything. By the end both of them were frustrated and Kyuhyun was just sitting, watching them amused.
Henry grabbed his backpack. “Well I have to get going. Mr. Lee is having extra dance practice and he’s bringing a couple of his friends to help us. I’ll see you tomorrow?” He gave Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun a look before waving to Changmin.
“We’ll see you tomorrow,” Kyuhyun called, slowly going about getting his things packed up, even as Changmin shuffled impatiently beside him.
“Hurry up,” he called, tapping his foot impatiently. “Don’t make me drag you out of this classroom.”
Kyuhyun continued to move at the same pace, and then he began unpacking, pulling out a sheet of music. “Don’t worry about me. I’m going to stay for extra practice with Mr. Joo.”
“You don’t need extra practice. Now come on.” He barely spared a glance at Zhou Mi as he said it, and Zhou Mi felt rather invisible and useless.
Kyuhyun just shook his head, going to the piano and handing the sheet music to Zhou Mi. “I want this solo Changmin. Mr. Joo can make sure I get it.”
“Man, even now that you’re single I can’t spend any time with you.”
Kyuhyun laughed, and he shoved Changmin towards the door. “I promise I’ll spend some time with you during the summer. Until then I have to practice. You were the one who told me not to waste my talent.”
“Selfish brat,” Changmin groaned, letting himself get pushed through the door with barely a wave towards Zhou Mi. Kyuhyun shut the door with a sigh and looked back to Zhou Mi with a smile.
“Sorry about that.”
Zhou Mi waved his hand. “It’s okay. You can go out with him. I don’t mind.”
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “I don’t want to go out with him. I want to spend as much time as I can with you.” Zhou Mi ducked his head, hiding his smile. “Besides, I can’t hang out with him anyway. Kibum gets out of class at seven, and I have work in an hour so it’s not like he and I could spend any time together.”
Zhou Mi licked his lips, thinking. “You have work?”
Kyuhyun nodded. “Six to twelve. I sorta skipped the last couple of days, so I really need to go in.” He had the decency to look sheepish at least and Zhou Mi let out a sigh.
“And then I guess you’re going to go to your house?” It sounded better than saying your parents’ house.
Kyuhyun shrugged. “Dunno. I was hoping that you’d come along, and watch. And then we’d go back to yours.”
Zhou Mi refused to ask about his parents, and so he just nodded, grabbing his briefcase with a sigh. Like for some reason it pained him to spend time with Kyuhyun. “I suppose.” He dragged out the word, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face for too long, not with the quirked eyebrow Kyuhyun was shooting him.
“You suppose? Well maybe I retract my offer,” Kyuhyun said with a laugh, as he opened the door, stepping into the hallway.
“That’s fine. Maybe I didn’t want to go see you work,” Zhou Mi laughed as well, looking down at Kyuhyun with a fond smile. He was really tempted to wrap his arm around Kyuhyun’s shoulder, pull him close. Not yet though. There were still a few students and teachers wandering the halls. But once they were outside, walking down into the subway he’d press himself close to Kyuhyun, maybe even kiss him.
Yeah that sounded like a plan.
The room to the theatre opened just as they were passing it and Ryeowook and Jongwoon came out. Kyuhyun was still laughing at Zhou Mi, but he broke off to smile at both of them. Zhou Mi noticed the look Ryeowook shot them, looking up and down for any out of place clothing no doubt.
“Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim,” Kyuhyun said with a smile, and Jongwoon responded in kind.
“Kyuhyun, correct?” He glanced at Zhou Mi with a grin. “I take it you’re taking advantage of Mr. Joo’s generosity and asking him for help?”
Kyuhyun nodded and he really looked the picture of innocence. It was a good thing Jongwoon was focusing his attention entirely on Kyuhyun because Zhou Mi could feel his face heating up under the look he was getting from Ryeowook.
“Hey Mimi, how’s Sungmin?” Ryeowook piped up and Zhou Mi saw Kyuhyun’s eyes narrow just a fraction.
Jongwoon swung his head to look at Ryeowook, obviously confused. “Ryeowook,” he glanced at Kyuhyun, “I’m not sure it’s proper to talk about this in front of a student.”
Zhou Mi could understand why Ryeowook was doing this, but it didn’t make his urge to strangle his best friend any less.
“Sungmin,” Kyuhyun said the name slowly, like he was trying it out until it finally clicked. “Oh! Your friend, the one who helped me the night Henry broke up with me.”
And Zhou Mi wanted to go jump in a river now. Because Ryeowook’s eyes had narrowed, like he hadn’t been expecting that to come out, and Jongwoon just looked confused. Zhou Mi wanted to take pity on the poor man, because he was so out of the loop. But that would mean outing it all, and he didn’t really want to do that.
“I really liked Sungmin,” Kyuhyun was saying, smiling at Zhou Mi, but he could see the blank look in his eyes, the one he got when he was just pretending. It meant he was hurt. He turned back to look at Ryeowook. “He helped me get back with Henry.”
The smile was pure evil on Kyuhyun’s face, and Jongwoon looked back and forth between Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and Zhou Mi. He still couldn’t even begin to understand what was going on.
Ryeowook smiled politely. “I like Sungmin as well. He’s good for Mimi.”
Zhou Mi wondered if he would have to hold Kyuhyun back from throwing his textbooks at Ryeowook, but Kyuhyun only nodded. “I thought Mr. Joo had been looking happier lately.” He gave a small bow to both of them, nodding his head towards Zhou Mi. “I have to get going home, if that’s okay with you. Thank you for helping me Mr. Joo.”
Zhou Mi’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth as Jongwoon waved Kyuhyun off, the perplexed look still on his face. Ryeowook’s eyes snapped back to Zhou Mi once Kyuhyun had walked away and Zhou Mi hoped that he wouldn’t say anything.
“Ryeowook, what was that about?” Jongwoon asked, once Kyuhyun was far enough down the hall.
Zhou Mi wondered if this is where he could make his great escape, and let Ryeowook explain whatever he wanted. Jongwoon looked at him next and he realized he couldn’t just run. That would just raise more questions. So instead he waited patiently for Ryeowook to explain himself.
“What? Sungmin had said he met Kyuhyun, so I thought it would be okay to ask about him in front of Kyuhyun. Who is he going to tell?”
“But it’s not appropriate,” Jongwoon said lamely, not sure if he believed what he was saying.
Zhou Mi wanted to snap in agreement, say that it wasn’t appropriate and that he had just outed him to his own student, and how would it feel if he were in his shoes, but he couldn’t do that. Because Ryeowook was his friend. And deep down he meant well.
“It’s fine. Like Kyuhyun said, we helped him deal with breaking up with Henry, and then getting back with him. They are both very grateful.” He smiled at both of them and started to head to the door. Maybe if he ran once he was outside he would catch up with Kyuhyun. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He didn’t wait for either of them to say goodbye, because now that they were alone Ryeowook was probably going to explain himself some more, and Jongwoon was hopefully going to understand. Zhou Mi didn’t want the two of them to get into a fight. Unless of course, this caused a fight between him and Kyuhyun. In which case he hoped Jongwoon broke Ryeowook’s heart and forced him to go back to Henry, who hopefully had enough to sense to say no thanks.
He was still deep in dark thoughts as he walked out of the school gates and he almost walked right passed Kyuhyun waiting against the wall. He stopped in his tracks and looked right at Kyuhyun, who was smiling.
“Hey,” he said softly.
Kyuhyun just shook his head and pushed himself off the wall and started walking to the subway. Zhou Mi followed after him, wanting to reach out and touch him, but they were still too close to the school.
“Ryeowook worries about you I see.”
“Yeah,” Zhou Mi said slowly, not sure where Kyuhyun was going with this.
“You know Henry does the same thing?” Zhou Mi looked at Kyuhyun, not sure if he believed that and Kyuhyun laughed as he explained. “Not when we’re all together, but when we’re alone, he’ll always check to make sure I’m happy. He keeps saying he doesn’t want me to make the same mistake he did. I’ve told him it’s different, you and I, because of how we met, but,” he shrugged, “he still worries.”
“If you know why he’s doing it then why heckle Ryeowook. I thought you liked him.”
“I do. And I really respect him, but honestly, it’s none of his business. And he hurt my friend.” Kyuhyun reached out and grabbed Zhou Mi’s hand. “And I don’t mean just Henry.” Zhou Mi swallowed. “You don’t want him to be mad at you, but he keeps being mad. I can’t let that go Mimi.”
Zhou Mi squeezed his hand, not sure what to say. All he knew was that he was touched by Kyuhyun’s words.
“Thanks,” he finally said, when they were pressed together in the subway and the only way he could be heard was to literally breathe into Kyuhyun’s ear. Kyuhyun turning his head and stealing a quick kiss was just an added bonus.
Once they got to the longue Zhou Mi headed to the bar, because he knew he would be there a while, and Kyuhyun headed to the back, taking their bags with him so he could store them. The bartender barely gave Zhou Mi a glance as he poured him a glass of water, and he turned in his seat to get a better look at the small stage so he could see when Kyuhyun came out.
The pieces he sang were old time smooth jazz tonight. Sometimes they had him sing trot, if the crowd was in for it, but Zhou Mi knew that Kyuhyun’s voice didn’t always mold to fit it accurately. He tried though. But tonight it was smooth jazz, and so Zhou Mi got to hear him accompanied by only the piano before the brass picked up and nice and slow.
A few couples gave into the temptation of dancing one or two songs, as Kyuhyun stood there in his uniform, white collared shirt, black vest and pants. Zhou Mi couldn’t take his eyes off of him.
“I see you two are back together.”
Zhou Mi glanced, afraid for a moment, and then realized it was the bartender. He’d never been outright friendly to Zhou Mi since he had started dating Kyuhyun at the end of January, and Zhou Mi had finally understood why once he had found out how old Kyuhyun was. But he had always filled up Zhou Mi’s glass, and never said anything.
Zhou Mi looked down into his drink. After the third hour he had switched from water to liquor. “Yup.” There was no use denying it, at least not here.
The bartender nodded, and then he filled up Zhou Mi’s drink. “Good. Cause that was a crap move you pulled bringing your other thing here.” Zhou Mi opened his mouth to argue that that hadn’t been his idea but the bartender shot him a look. “So whatever it was, his age, your job, whatever. I’m glad it’s over.”
For a moment Zhou Mi’s mouth couldn’t work because the bartender knew, and it was okay for Henry to know, because he wasn’t going to say anything, but Zhou Mi didn’t know anything about this guy. And then he saw the bartender’s slight smile, and his brain caught up with his worry. He didn’t know, not specifically anyway. He just was guessing. Zhou Mi let out a breath and nodded.
“We’re working on it.” Because what more could he say?
“Well keep working on it.”
Zhou Mi raised his glass to Kyuhyun as he finished up the song.
On Friday Changmin came right as they started, and joined Henry for practice without being asked. Kyuhyun tried to give pointers this time, but most of what he had to say were generally unhelpful. Zhou Mi figured it had to do with Changmin, and whatever kind of banter the two thought was amusing that day.
“I think you’re going to just have to replace your vocal chords,” Kyuhyun said looking at the ceiling and leaning back in his chair. Zhou Mi had given up correcting him on how he was supposed to sit in the chairs. He did it in class, and that’s all that mattered.
“I don’t think they have surgery for that. But want to know what they have surgery for?”
“Brain transfers so that way you can think of better comebacks?”
Changmin threw the music book at him just as the door opened and Ryeowook popped his head in. Kyuhyun dropped the chair back to all four legs, holding the book to his chest as he stared at Ryeowook. Zhou Mi glanced around the piano and frowned. He was trying to ignore how still Henry had gone.
“Yes?”
Ryeowook looked at each of them, smile on his face. “I had just finished my last class, and wanted to invite you to dinner with me and Jongwoon. Sungmin said he’d be willing to stop by, Jongwoon already asked.”
Zhou Mi’s frown deepened, but he stopped himself from saying what he really wanted to say. “I’ll see. I don’t know how long I’m going to be.” He glanced at Kyuhyun, but Kyuhyun was just looking at Henry, who was resolutely looking at the ground.
“Oh it’s no problem. I can wait,” Ryeowook smiled even wider, coming further into the room. “I don’t mind watching you guys practice, if you don’t mind.”
Kyuhyun stood up, looking at the clock up on the wall. “Hey Henry, didn’t you say you had to be home soon?”
Henry looked up at him, and Changmin just tilted his head to the side, opening his mouth to say something but he stopped when Kyuhyun wrapped his arm around Henry, pulling him to where their book bags were stashed.
“Sorry Mr. Joo, we didn’t even realize how long we had been here.” Zhou Mi could see that the grip he had on Henry’s shoulder was tight, but Henry was going along with it, and even tried to smile a bit.
“Yeah, sorry. I completely forgot. Thanks for reminding me,” he looked at Kyuhyun, and only Kyuhyun as he smiled. Zhou Mi couldn’t tell if he was shaking, but he wouldn’t blame him.
Ryeowook stepped back, smile slipping as Kyuhyun led Henry out of the room, Changmin slowly following behind them.
“Have a good weekend Mr. Joo.”
“You too Changmin,” Zhou Mi called out weakly, still sitting behind the piano.
That had happened much too fast.
Zhou Mi felt his phone go off in his pocket, and he figured it was text from Kyuhyun telling him something. Or maybe it was Sungmin telling him about dinner. Either way he wasn’t going to look now.
Ryeowook was looking at the door and Zhou Mi wanted to shove it in his face that yes the two of them are dating, isn’t Kyuhyun just the perfect boyfriend, going in there and rescuing his beloved from the big mean ex. The lie would make him feel better. And Kyuhyun would get a laugh out of it. Maybe Henry would too. But it seemed like Henry would rather not hear or see Ryeowook at the moment.
And Henry was who Kyuhyun was looking after right now, so Zhou Mi would do his part and make sure that Ryeowook stayed distracted and stopped thinking about him.
“So you say Sungmin is coming?”
Ryeowook blinked, taken aback. He obviously hadn’t been expecting that. But he nodded. “Yeah, he’s going to meet Jongwoon at the place.”
Zhou Mi smiled and grabbed his bag, heading for the door. “Well let’s not keep them waiting.”
“Sungmin had said he hadn’t heard from you all week, so we thought about surprising you.” Ryeowook seemed to be using the lines he must have practiced, the ones he had made up in case he had to appease Zhou Mi’s anger.
“Yeah, I’ve been busy with this whole mess.”
“Jongwoon’s been the same,” Ryeowook said, walking towards the gate. “I guess I had it easy.”
Zhou Mi shrugged and continued to make small talk with Ryeowook as they made their way to the restaurant. Halfway there he checked the text he had gotten. It simply read We’ll pick up on Monday then :)
Well there went their entire weekend plans. They hadn’t even made too many besides lay in bed until two in the afternoon.
Sungmin was sitting in the booth already when they got there, drink in hand, and he lit up when he saw Zhou Mi, reaching over Jongwoon to pull him down in between himself and Jongwoon. Zhou Mi tried to smile back. He was already getting exhausted with the fake act; he had never been any good at it.
“Your drinks are on the way,” Jongwoon announced as he took hold of Ryeowook’s hand.
“Hey stranger,” Sungmin said, squeezing Zhou Mi’s hand, and it was obvious he wasn’t sure if he should lean up for a kiss or not.
“Hey,” Zhou Mi responded weakly, trying for tired. Maybe it would get him out of here as soon as possible. He was still upset at his plans with Kyuhyun being canceled. But Ryeowook had taken the seat next to Jongwoon, practically in his lap, and Zhou Mi knew he was still being watched, no matter how good his act had been so far. So he leaned down, pressing a quick kiss to the corner of Sungmin’s mouth. “Missed you,” he muttered and Sungmin’s smile turned lazy.
“Missed you too. Still busy with work?”
“Not for the whole weekend,” he forced out, because it was true now. Kyuhyun was probably going to spend the weekend with Changmin and his boyfriend, and sleep in his own bed. And see his parents.
Maybe Zhou Mi should give his own parents a call. That would be a good thing to do.
Sungmin was grinning. “So when is this whole recital going to be over?”
“End of the semester,” Jongwoon said, shifting Ryeowook slightly, but keeping him in his lap.
Sungmin nodded. “I take it that means you’re going to be keeping Zhou Mi away from me until then.” He squeezing Zhou Mi’s hand to show he was just joking.
Zhou Mi was too distracted by the lack of guilt he felt in his gut to respond right away, but he forced a smile back on his face. “Yeah, unfortunately. But once summer comes I’ll make it up to you.”
And he stepped in it. That wasn’t what he had wanted to say at all, and now Sungmin was tightening his grip on Zhou Mi’s hand and smiling like Zhou Mi had just said something ridiculously romantic.
“So is Kyuhyun going to audition?” Zhou Mi blinked at Sungmin, unsure why he was asking and Sungmin only shrugged, probably able to read his face. “It’s the only student of yours I know.”
“Yeah he’s invited, even thought he’s only a second year student and we wanted to invite only the seniors.”
“I think he deserves the solo,” Sungmin said, wiping his finger on the condensation of his glass. “He’s got an amazing voice.”
Jongwoon nodded. “Oh, we were talking about you the other day,” he said and Zhou Mi tensed up as Sungmin tilted his head to the side.
“Really?”
Jongwoon nudged Ryeowook. “Yeah, Ryeowook asked Zhou Mi about you while he and Kyuhyun were leaving from practice.”
“Oh, you’re helping him out are you?” Sungmin poked Zhou Mi’s side with a laugh. “You have such a soft spot for him.” He laughed as Zhou Mi was unable to stop the way his face heated up. “It’s okay, I understand.” He leaned against Zhou Mi’s shoulder. “I liked him too.”
Jongwoon laughed. “You know that’s exactly what he said about you. I’m beginning to think you guys met for drinks and not just where he was working.”
Sungmin grinned. “Well he works at a bar, so drinks may have been involved.” He glanced at Zhou Mi, like he was asking permission to say something, but Zhou Mi couldn’t even begin to imagine what he was asking. There was a pause as their first round of drinks arrived and Zhou Mi grabbed hold of his. He could smell the liquor from here, so he knew it was strong.
“So he knew that you two were dating?” Jongwoon asked, like he was making sure that Kyuhyun had known that the two of them were dating.
Sungmin nodded. “Yeah, why? Did it come up?” He asked with a laugh.
Jongwoon shrugged, not elaborating, and like that they were moving on, talking about something else, how cheap the liquor was here, and how crappy the music choices could get. Yesung said something about 80s English Hair Metal and Sungmin laughed.
It didn’t warm Zhou Mi like it would have even a week ago. He swallowed the rest of his drink to that thought, and ordered something stronger. He knew he was going to need it.
It took two more drinks to try and get his head straight. By the time Sungmin had stopped laughing with Jongwoon, and put a hand on his bicep he was dizzy. And drunk. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been drunk, truly physically drunk. He wasn’t sure he was at the stage of vomiting yet, but he could already tell that the ride home was gonna suck.
“Hey, Mimi,” Sungmin said softly, pressed up against his side. “You okay?” He shook his head and Sungmin wrapped an arm around his waist. “Here, let’s get you back to yours.” He nodded to Jongwoon and Ryeowook, pulling Zhou Mi out of the booth. “It was great, but I should get him home.”
Home. Yes, that sounded like a good idea. He could call Kyuhyun and force him to come over and laugh at him. Though it probably wouldn’t have to take much. Maybe Kyuhyun was already there.
Wait.
Home was a bad idea.
“Not mine,” he mumbled into Sungmin’s shoulder. “Let’s go to yours. Want to go to yours.”
Kyuhyun was an awful influence on him.
Sungmin smiled faintly, adjusting him so he wasn’t swaying as much, and he pressed a kiss to Zhou Mi’s cheek. “Sure thing, let’s you get home.” He waved to Jongwoon and Ryeowook and guided Zhou Mi towards the door. Zhou Mi clung to him the whole time, and tries very hard not to throw up as the subway swayed.
Sungmin just sat there, like a pillar of strength, running his hands through Zhou Mi’s hair until they reached the stop for his apartment. Zhou Mi wasn’t feeling any better, still dizzy, because the train ride hadn’t helped at all. Sungmin did he best to keep Zhou Mi okay as they made their way the few blocks to his apartment, and as they reached the door Zhou Mi realized he couldn’t go in there. If he went in there he would spend the night. And he would wake up tomorrow morning, and Sungmin would have gotten them food and something for his headache, and there would be cuddling, because Zhou Mi couldn’t say no.
And cuddling would lead to sex and he couldn’t do that to Kyuhyun.
“I need to go home,” he muttered and Sungmin sshed him, hand rubbing up and down his back.
“We’re almost there,” he tried to reassure.
“No. My apartment. Can’t. I’m too drunk.” What could he say to make this easier?
“Yes you are drunk. That’s why you’re coming inside,” Sungmin said, and his voice was soothing. He was running his fingers up and down Zhou Mi’s side and it felt good, but he had latched onto the thought and he couldn’t let it go. If he went inside he might as well break up with Kyuhyun. And he couldn’t do that.
“No. Don’t want you to see me like this.”
Sungmin laughed at that. “Please, it’s fine Mimi. I’m sure this won’t be the last time, and soon enough you’ll see me completely smashed. Just wait for our next album.”
“Don’t call me Mimi,” he snapped out. Or at least he tried to. It came out too slurred though, and that might have taken some of the sting out of the words.
Sungmin still looked taken aback. “What?”
“I hate it. Don’t call me it,” Zhou Mi pulled himself away from Sungmin’s grip and leaned against the wall. “I hate it tonight.” He took some deep breaths and Sungmin let him stand the few feet away, merely watching. Zhou Mi swallowed, realizing that needed to say something. “I’m an awful drunk.”
A small smile crossed Sungmin’s lips and he reached for Zhou Mi. “It’s okay. I’m a pretty awful drunk myself. Now let’s get inside.”
“No.” Zhou Mi said it with conviction and he looked right in Sungmin’s eye. “I need to go home.” He stumbled forward and even if Sungmin wanted to protest Zhou Mi didn’t let him have any time. “I’m going home.”
Sungmin sighed. “Alright, let me come then.”
Zhou Mi thought about the mess he and Kyuhyun had made, and hadn’t cleaned up from the night before. Kyuhyun’s clothes were probably still thrown over the couch, and he was pretty sure they still had the lube left on the kitchen counter. No. Sungmin couldn’t come to his apartment.
“I just want to make sure you get home fine.”
“I’ll take a cab. Don’t worry about me Sungmin!” He practically shouted the last part because he was getting fed up. He wanted to get home. He wanted to call Kyuhyun. He wanted to scream because he didn’t want to be drunk, he wanted to be watching bad cop movies on his couch, and then putting on something sappy and romantic that Kyuhyun would throw books at.
Sungmin froze at the entranceway of his apartment. Zhou Mi stumbled out onto the street and raised his hand, trying to flag a taxi. He half expected to turn around and see Sungmin having gone inside, but he still stood there, face stricken until he realized he was being watched. His shoulders sagged and he came fully outside, grabbing Zhou Mi’s hand and helping him get into the cab when it finally pulled over.
“I love you, Zhou Mi,” he said quietly, pressing a kiss to his forehead before nodding for the taxi driver that he could go.
It was two stoplights before Zhou Mi fumbled to get his phone out of his pocket, and called Kyuhyun. He didn’t think he would pick up. He had said they’d pick up on Monday. He had been giving Zhou Mi the weekend to get his shit together. Take the weekend off from them and take care of Sungmin. No regrets. Like they weren’t even together. But Zhou Mi couldn’t do that. And he didn’t know if Kyuhyun could either.
Kyuhyun didn’t answer. Not the first time. Nor the second. Nor at four a.m. when Zhou Mi woke up, and threw up in the wastebasket by their bed. He had laughed miserably when he realized he had started thinking like that. And then he had rolled his head back and silently begged for someone to put him out of his misery.
Kyuhyun was smiling on Monday. Zhou Mi just wanted to grab him and hold him. He hadn’t tried Kyuhyun anymore once he had woken up on Saturday, hung over and with no messages on his own phone except an apology from Ryeowook and a text asking Zhou Mi if he was feeling better. But he couldn’t do anything with Kyuhyun, couldn’t even talk with him, because he had fifty-four students to audition over the course of the day.
The first time he saw Kyuhyun was during audition. He was perfect, as Zhou Mi had expected. Jongwoon had just rolled his eyes and put a star next to his name. They had both tried to come into auditions with an open mind, but certain places were set in stone, and they both knew it. Jaejoong Kim was one, so was Jiyeon Lee.
The few places that they hadn’t already decided though, were easy to fill once they had seen what they had to work with. The rest of the day was spent pairing the fifteen students up. So Zhou Mi still didn’t see Kyuhyun until after his last class, when he finally went back to his classroom to see Kyuhyun waiting.
“So did I make it?”
And just like that, no mention of the weekend. Like nothing had happened. Zhou Mi wished he could be that nonchalant.
“I didn’t do anything with Sungmin.”
“I know.”
Zhou Mi looked at him, really looked at him, and he could see the worry slowly fading from his eyes, and the creases in his forehead softening. He hadn’t known until Zhou Mi had said something, but he had been hoping.
“I just wanted to clear that up.”
Kyuhyun was silent for a moment and then he reached for Zhou Mi’s hand. “Thanks. It means a lot to me.” He broke into a grin, and he tugged on his hand. “Now tell me, did I make it?”
Zhou Mi rolled his eye, feeling the pressure in his chest lessen. “You’ll find out when everyone else finds out.”
Kyuhyun laughed. “Yeah, okay. Now tell me. I made it right? Who am I working with?”
“You’ll find out tomorrow,” Zhou Mi tried again, pulling Kyuhyun towards him. “For now all you need to worry about is what movie we’re going to go see.”
“Movie?”
Zhou Mi nodded. “Yup, movie. I figure celebration is in order for a successful audition. So I’m going to take you out.”
Kyuhyun’s eyebrows pulled together and then he broke into a big smile. “So you mean I got in right?”
Zhou Mi laughed, but didn’t answer. And he still hadn’t answered by the time they got to the theatre, despite how much Kyuhyun whined, and kept asking.
“I don’t even want to go to see a movie. Why spend our money here? Let’s just watch one of those crap films on the television,” Kyuhyun tried to persuade but Zhou Mi just lead them into the theatre and pushed him down one of the back rows.
Once they were settled Zhou Mi waited for a couple moments, seeing how long Kyuhyun would continue to complain. He found it almost endearing that he could ramble for that long, and that patiently. Persistency was a good trait. He liked it in Kyuhyun. When it looked like Kyuhyun had no intention of slowing down, even beginning to complain loud enough to draw the attention from the people sitting around them, and there weren’t that many, Zhou Mi leaned down and whispered in his ear, “I didn’t take you here to see the movie.”
Kyuhyun’s mouth snapped closed and he slunk down in his seat, eyes taking in the few people who were in the theatre. “Oh,” he said.
“Yeah. Oh,” Zhou Mi said with a smirk. “I told you. It was a celebration.”
Kyuhyun chuckled, fingers moving to dance over Zhou Mi’s kneecap. “Of course a celebration would mean public sex.”
Zhou Mi hushed him, and Kyuhyun grinned. The trailers had started, loud in the small theatre, and he leaned over to kiss Zhou Mi. Their skin brightened as the screen flashed over and over with explosions and then calming scenery. Their seats practically shook as the sound system played too loudly, but Kyuhyun kept focused on Zhou Mi’s mouth.
Zhou Mi cursed as they broke apart, Kyuhyun’s lips moving to travel down his neck. “We should be quick,” Kyuhyun muttered, and Zhou Mi moaned, wondering why they had to be quick. This movie was ninety minutes. “The couple to the side of us that just walked in is watching us.”
Zhou Mi laughed, curling his hand around Kyuhyun’s jaw to pull him back up for another deep kiss. “Then let them watch.”
“And get caught?”
“Sure, why not?” Zhou Mi laughed a little and glanced at the couple to the side of them. Sure enough they were watching and he pulled away from Kyuhyun, acting like he was going back to watch the movie. He pretended he didn’t see Kyuhyun wave at them, before he too settled back in his seat.
“It’s going to be hard with them right there,” Kyuhyun whispered, leaning up, and he nibbled lightly on Zhou Mi’s ear before he pulled away.
Zhou Mi smirked, eyes still on the screen as he moved his hand over the armrest. The woman was still glancing at them occasionally, but she couldn’t see his hand trail up Kyuhyun’s thigh, nudging for him to spread them. Kyuhyun was already hard, and Zhou Mi ran his fingertips over the bulge in his trousers, smirking as Kyuhyun’s shoulders relaxed and he closed his eyes.
“Missed me?” He asked, glancing away from the screen long enough to watch Kyuhyun’s adams’ apple bob as he swallowed.
“Yeah,” Kyuhyun muttered. “Just a bit.”
Zhou Mi tried to take it slow, but as he traced Kyuhyun’s zipper he felt his heart speeding up and he pulled it down quickly. Kyuhyun let out a hiss and his hips raised up as he tried to roll them to free his erection. Zhou Mi risked kissing his neck quickly, before he went back to staring at the movie.
He didn’t even know what was going on. He had just picked this movie because it had gotten awful reviews and no one wanted to go see it. He focused all his attention on his hand, wrapping around Kyuhyun’s cock and stroking it slowly.
Kyuhyun bucked his hips again, and Zhou Mi stroked his hand downward, meeting the thrust. It was awkward, the angle, but Kyuhyun didn’t seem to mind. His pupils were practically blown, a mixture of the dark and how hard he was no doubt. He was also beginning to sweat as he tried to bite his lips and force himself not to be too loud.
Zhou Mi kept his eyes glued to the screen the whole time, even when Kyuhyun’s hand joined his, guiding him in how to fist around his cock, and move up and down.
Kyuhyun rolled his head and let out a moan. “Fuck I wish you could suck on me.”
Zhou Mi smirked and turned his head, kissing him deeply, couple near them be damned. Kyuhyun gasped, arching up and they moved their hands faster. Zhou Mi was hard, but he didn’t care, focused entirely on Kyuhyun and watching him as his head fell back, and the blue and green from the screen lit up his skin as he flushed and came.
His chest was heaving, and he was still jerking his hips. Zhou Mi couldn’t look away. Couldn’t even check if they were being watched because Kyuhyun looked gorgeous like this.
His eyes opened and he reached for Zhou Mi. Only then did Zhou Mi remember where they were, because Kyuhyun was dropping to the floor, getting to his knees and undoing Zhou Mi’s zipper. He swallowed, looking to where the couple was, and wasn’t sure if he was relieved that they weren’t there or not. Maybe they moved. Maybe they were going to report them. Maybe cops were coming right now.
And maybe it didn’t matter because Kyuhyun’s mouth was wet and hot around his cock. He grabbed a fistful of Kyuhyun’s hair and forced him all the way down. He didn’t care about slow, and Kyuhyun slacked his jaw, hollowed his cheeks and took it.
Explosions were going off, and it drowned out the sound of his heart racing, but just barely. He wasn’t looking at the screen anymore, and didn’t care about the sounds of children screaming, because Kyuhyun’s eyes were shut tight as he let him fuck his mouth. Zhou Mi bit his lip, trying to be quiet, but he was glad it was still an action scene because when he pulled Kyuhyun away, coming on his face and neck, he knew he made noise. Too much noise actually.
It didn’t matter though.
Zhou Mi leaned down and kissed Kyuhyun deep, tongue licking off the come from his cheek and neck. Kyuhyun shuddered, and when he was clean he kissed Zhou Mi again before getting back in his seat.
The action scene was still going but Zhou Mi could barely hear it. And no usher was coming to arrest them or kick them out, so he let his legs become jelly. He deserved that at least.
“Want to watch the end of this movie?” Kyuhyun asked with a smirk.
Zhou Mi just nodded. “No choice, I can’t move.”
Chapter 7