Your Bet's as Good as Mine (4/16)
Title: Your Bet's as Good as Mine (4/16)
Pairing: Yunho/Changmin
Words: 3,740
Beta: chibisuz <3
Comments are love ^^ Also, this is the outfit Kyuhyun dresses Changmin in.
Raging with jealousy the night Yunho disappeared from the club with his arms around a pretty little Chinese exchange student, Changmin vent his outrage to Kyuhyun over shots of tequila.
Kyuhyun leisurely licked the salt off the back of his hand as Changmin took a shot and then grimaced before biting on a lime, face screwing up from the sourness.
"What exactly does that prissy little boy have that I don't?!" he asked as he wiped his mouth, feeling pleasantly buzzed.
"His name is Luhan, not prissy little boy," Kyuhyun explained patiently, on his first drink and so nowhere near as drunk as Changmin.
"I don't care! Why did he leave with him when he knows I'm here??" Changmin slurred.
"Maybe because Luhan was willing to go with him?"
Changmin ignored reason. "What does he even see in that kid? He must be so boring in bed, I bet he's a crier," Changmin said spitefully, jealousy making his vision red.
"I don't know about that, Changmin, Luhan is really kind of adorable," Kyuhyun replied doubtfully.
Changmin glared at him with a you-are-really-not-helping-you-insensitive-sod kind of glare and then downed another shot.
"He's not only adorable, he is really sweet and cute and pretty and gentle and friendly," Kyuhyun continued helpfully, making sure to list all the things Changmin was not.
"I'm cute and pretty," Changmin half mumbled half sniffed, lips turned down unhappily.
Seeing Changmin's despairing face, he went in for the kill. "Just like Yunho. They're practically made for each other."
But when Changmin's eyes started looking watery, guilt flashed through Kyuhyun's features.
"Wait dude don't cry!" he said hastily.
"Why would you say that!" Changmin wailed.
Kyuhyun sighed, patting him on the back. "I just wanted you to realize that if you don't do something now, you're really going to lose him. Plus I'm kind of sick and tired of listening to you moan Yunho's name in the shower every night."
But Changmin was not listening, having found a different topic to complain about. "You're supposed to be my best friend! You're supposed to agree with me! You're supposed to say Luhan is terrible in bed and that Yunho is the world's biggest jackass for daring to not give me attention!" Angrily, he took another shot, his sixth of the night.
"Changmin you're being very unfair," Kyuhyun said sternly. "Yunho has done nothing but give you attention. Even a blind guy could see how much he wants you. Now stop drinking so fast, that's enough."
He was right, but Changmin didn't want to be fair. "If he really wanted me he wouldn't be leaving with other guys," Changmin gritted, reaching for another drink but Kyuhyun smoothly took them out of his reach.
"Maybe he's sexually frustrated."
"He just needs to wait longer. Give that back."
"Changmin. Yunho has waited for you for two months. Two months! Does he look like the type to wait for someone for two months? No. Even I'm starting to feel bad for the man," Kyuhyun replied, ignoring his demand and pulling the tequila even further away.
Changmin face-planted on the table, giving up on life as he mumbled something incomprehensible even to him.
Kyuhyun, meanwhile, was tapping his fingers against the table, looking thoughtful. He picked up a lime and began to suck on it, lips puckered.
"So, um,dude, what was Donghae talking about the other day? About Yunho getting rejected?"
"I don't know, I've been thinking about it too," Changmin admitted, propping his chin on the table and fiddling with the salt shaker in front of him as he gazed at Kyuhyun with unfocused eyes.
"Could he have been talking about you? He did look mad at you," Kyuhyun said, watching him.
"But...I haven't rejected him," Changmin mumbled.
"Maybe he thinks you have."
Changmin suddenly felt anxious. He sat up straight. "Do you think that's why he...isn't like he was before?"
"You mean why he doesn't grovel at your feet like he usually does?" Kyuhyun asked with a raised brow.
Changmin scowled.
Kyuhyun grinned, then said seriously, "Maybe. You should do something if you don't want to lose him Changmin."
Changmin sighed. "If it's not already too late," he mumbled.
But Kyuhyun wasn’t done, it seemed. He was still watching Changmin carefully.
“What?” Changmin said, annoyed.
Kyuhyun pursed his lips, still watching him. “I want to say something but I don’t want you to get mad.”
Oh? Kyuhyun never needed Changmin’s permission to say something, because he said it whether or not Changmin wanted to hear it. This was serious. “Yes?” Changmin asked, curious despite himself.
“Do you think maybe…”
“What?”
Kyuhyun sighed. “Okay. Well. Why don’t we look at it from Yunho’s perspective.”
“Look at what?” Changmin asked, thoroughly confused. This conversation already seemed out of his reach, given how drunk he was.
“So it’s like this,” Kyuhyun began, and very slowly. “Yunho gave you his number. You didn’t call him for two weeks. He saw you in the club and came to talk to you. You ‘danced’ with him. You touched him. You turned him on. And then you left him. He saw you in the library and came to you. Again. For the third time. You talked to him, but mostly you kept him at a distance, but he didn’t give up. He gave you his number again, and kept talking to you, and studying with you. He asked you to go to parties with him and spend the night, but you said no. He touched you here and there, you didn’t really discourage him. But then when he tried to talk to you about whatever was between the two of you, you shut him down. So now here he is, having spent the last two months trying to get somewhere with you, and you haven’t responded. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”
Changmin stared at him for a few moments, slightly stunned by the long speech. He was way too drunk for this.
Kyuhyun raised an expectant eyebrow. “Well?”
Changmin thought about it, very hard, trying to figure out what his weird best friend was trying to say. “That it’s all Yunho’s fault?” he suggested.
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “No, Changmin, I’m saying it’s all your fault.”
Changmin looked at him with all the indignance of a drunk. “It is not all my fault!”
“What isn’t?”
“I don’t know, but I know it’s not my fault!”
Kyuhyun sighed. He did that a lot these days, Changmin noticed absentmindedly. “Changmin, did you understand what I said?”
“No, but I know it wasn’t my fault,” Changmin replied proudly.
Kyuhyun reached across the table and took his face in his hands. But not gently or anything, because that was gay, and Kyuhyun wasn’t gay. How rude of him to be so rough. He wanted Yunho to hold his face gently, but then he remembered he was supposed to be mad at Yunho, but he didn’t remember why he had to be, but that didn’t matter. He was going to be mad anyway. He was sure Yunho deserved to be mad at. “Changmin,” Kyuhyun said, shaking his head a bit. See. Not gentle at all. Yunho wouldn’t do that.
“What.”
“Changmin, what I’m trying to say is that Yunho might think you’re playing with him. And that he might be hurt.”
Changmin stared at him. Kyuhyun stared back. “What,” he said finally.
Kyuhyun stopped holding his face in a not-gay way and sat back. “Do you understand me now?”
“I think so,” Changmin replied, biting his lower lip.
Kyuhyun didn’t seem to believe him, and crossed his arms across his chest. Yunho’s chest was much nicer, Changmin thought proudly. “Then explain to me what I just said,” he said, in that way professors sometimes asked when they didn’t believe you, but that was not good because now Changmin was thinking of student-teacher fantasies, and it was doubly not good because he imagined Kyuhyun in his fantasy because Kyuhyun was right in front of him. And that was gross. Because Kyuhyun was his best friend. Ew.
He was startled when fingers snapped in front of his face. “What?”
“Changmin, stay focused. I asked for an explanation.”
Changmin had to think for a moment to remember what he was talking about, and then brightened. “You wanted to know if I understood,” he said, as if he had solved a particularly difficult Macro question.
“Yes, good, now did you?”
“Yes,” Changmin replied in the same tone.
Kyuhyun made an impatient sound. “Well?”
“You tried to tell me Yunho is a bastard for feeling hurt, because he has no right to be hurt,” Changmin answered confidently.
Kyuhyun slapped his forehead.
And then he reached across and shook Changmin’s shoulders roughly. “No, Changmin, I’m trying to tell you that Yunho thinks you’re playing him!”
That finally clicked. Maybe he needed to be shaken by his shoulders more often.“What? Playing him?” Changmin said weakly. “Do you really think that’s what he thinks?”
Kyuhyun sat back, seemingly relieved that Changmin was finally getting it,and shrugged. “That’s what I would think, if some girl did that to me.” He paused, apparently thinking, then shook his head. “Wow, Yunho is a saint, I would be right furious and never talk to her again.”
Fuck.
***
The next day was a Saturday, and after spending half the morning lazing around in bed and trying to will his hangover away, Changmin finally got up to get some work done. He took a shower, and feeling a bit better about himself, ate a quick breakfast and settled down at his desk.
His brain decided it had better things to do than focus on Advanced Macro Analysis, like think about Yunho. More specifically, about Yunho leaving with Luhan the previous night.
To say he was jealous and mad at Yunho was an understatement. To leave with another boy, right in front of him, when he knew Changmin was there, seemed almost like he didn't give two fucks about how Changmin felt. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't stop himself from feeling hurt, upset with Yunho for being so careless with his feelings. It was like his ex all over again, and maybe that thought hurt the most, because he didn't want to compare someone as sweet and kind as Yunho to an asshole like his ex.
But was Yunho still sweet and kind after last night? Afterall, Changmin had always heard rumors about the man, rumors of him being a rampant Casanova. Maybe he was finally beginning to show his true colors. Changmin didn't want to think that about Yunho though, had learned that there was more to the older man than what the rumors always said about him.
After all, he reasoned with himself, Changmin was not his boyfriend. As much as the thought pained him, he was logical enough to admit it to himself. Yunho was a full grown male, and was not tied to someone else. He had every right to sleep with whoever he wanted; who was Changmin to tell him what he could and couldn't do?
Plus now, with Kyuhyun’s most insightful analysis last night, which he had been able to better understand in his sober state, he had to deal with the guilt that he might have unintentionally hurt Yunho. A spiteful part of him was happy at the thought that Yunho was hurt, for no other reason than that Changmin himself was miserable, but the other part, the one that was too fond of Yunho, felt terrible.
After thinking about it some more, he came to the conclusion that his heart was an ass.
All the logic in the world couldn't make him feel better though.
Moping about it wasn't helping him, however, so he forced the issue from his mind, convincing himself he was perfectly okay. Taking deep breaths to relax himself, he focused on the work in front of him and managed to work through the assignments that had been steadily piling up. He lost himself in his homework eventually; the logic of Macro was much more comforting and familiar to him than his mess of human emotions were.
Kyuhyun came in around dinner time, snapping his books shut. Changmin jumped, startled. "Alright nerd, time to get ready!"
"For what?" Changmin asked suspiciously.
"The club, duh," Kyuhyun replied, rolling his eyes.
"No I don't want to go."
"Good thing your opinion doesn't matter," Kyuhyun replied cheerfully, putting his hands on Changmin's shoulders to pull him away.
"Kyuhyun stop, I'm serious," Changmin said, clutching the edge of the desk to stop himself from being dragged away.
"Changmin so am I. Get your ass up."
"Kyu please," he whined, turning Bambi eyes on him. "I can't go back, Yunho might be there!"
"That's exactly why we're going back, you idiot. And why are you using your aegyo on me? Do I look like Yunho hyung to you?"
Oh well, it had been worth a try.
"Kyuuuuuu," he sighed dramatically.
Despite his many protests, he was forced into leather pants and a black shimmering shirt with a blazer on top.
"Why are you so determined to take me there anyway," he said as he pulled the pants up, grumbling all the while.
"Because you are going to get to the bottom of this thing between you guys even if it kills me," Kyuhyun said, standing over Changmin's dresser as he decided on cologne as though his very life depended on it.
Changmin continued his unhappy muttering, determined to make this as difficult as possible for his admittedly awesome but annoying as hell best friend.
Kyuhyun steadfastly ignored him, used to his grouchiness and anti-social tendencies.
Kyuhyun then did something to his hair so that it was wavy and covering one eye. He had to admit he looked pretty good.
He asked Kyuhyun for his opinion.
Nodding as he looked him up and down, Kyuhyun said, “You look just like a male prostitute.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Changmin said dryly.
“Good, it was meant to be one,” Kyuhyun replied cheerfully, clapping him on the back.
“So, um, why am I getting so dressed up?” Changmin asked, turning around in front of the mirror to check his back.
“Because tonight, my friend, you are getting laid,” Kyuhyun said smoothly, brushing away imaginary lint while ignoring Changmin’s glare.
***
Now, Changmin was sitting with his usual group of friends, minus Minho. Poor guy was too young to be admitted into the club, and they weren't enough of bad kids to fake ID's. Of course, Changmin and Kyuhyun constantly reminded him of all the things he missed out on rather gleefully.
Donghae and Yunho had made peace, apparently. They had walked over as soon as they spotted Changmin and Kyuhyun sitting together by the bar, and then dragged them away to their own table after getting their drinks.
Changmin had gotten over Yunho leaving with Luhan the previous night. His hangover of epic proportions that morning had helped.
Well, he thought he had. His heart kicked him, reminding him that no you little shit you're not okay.
As soon as he saw Yunho, he almost ran out of the club, and would have succeeded too had it not been for Kyuhyun’s fingers digging into his forearm, muttering under his breath at him to keep it together, man.
Friends. What would he do without them? Nothing, that's what.
There wasn’t much of a conversation going on. Things had gotten worse between them after Changmin had forced Yunho to go to the nurse last Monday. Yunho had joined them for lunch only twice that week, and hadn't come to the library at all, always having an excuse. Lunch itself had become quieter and less cheerful than before, a strange tension in the air every time the group gathered. Changmin had wondered why Donghae and Siwon still bothered to come when Yunho didn’t, but then realized it was because they had taken a genuine liking of the three younger boys.
Changmin had felt the first pangs of aches in his chest, and when he tried to find the problem that was causing him so much stress, no matter how many times he analyzed his feelings or how many different paths he looked at, the conclusion was always the same: he was in love with Jung Yunho, and it was only when Yunho had backed off that he realized it.
Changmin accepted that fact, and resigned himself to the very real possibility that Yunho did not want him anymore, not the way Changmin wanted him. And why would he, after Changmin's behavior around him had been so inconsistent and confusing?
He was still confused by Yunho's behavior though. Although Yunho wasn’t as he was before with him, he still smiled warmly at Changmin and, even now, had come to drag him away the minute he saw him.
Heechul wasn't helping. Changmin had finally, formally, met the man that night. Yunho had introduced him and then Heechul had proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes observing Changmin.
Really, the man was not doing anything to even try and make himself likable.
In normal circumstances, Changmin would have looked to Yunho for some sense of security, Yunho might have even told his hyung to stop making him uncomfortable; but circumstances weren't normal, so Changmin didn't look at Yunho, and Yunho didn't notice Changmin's discomfort.
He fiddled with his bottle instead, looking down and slightly bored while conversation floated around him.
"So Yurobbong, tell me who you've hooked up with recently," an annoying voice drawled, a voice that could only belong to Heechul.
He glanced up at the same time Yunho's eyes slid over to him.
But then he looked away, and Changmin wondered with a sinking feeling when they had become so distant.
"No one much," Yunho replied vaguely.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"No one stood out?" Heechul prodded. "None of them were good fucks?"
"Heechul," Yunho warned, glaring.
"Yunho," he replied sweetly.
"Didn't you leave with Luhan last night?" Donghae said while taking a swig from his bottle, the last thing Changmin heard before he couldn't take it any more.
He excused himself calmly, voice thankfully steady, and walked away, chest constricting painfully and throat hurting from trying to keep the tears at bay.
He made it to the bathroom without bawling his eyes out, but it wasn't until Yunho walked in right behind him and locked the door that he felt the dam behind his eyes would break.
"Changmin what's wrong?"
And break it did.
He couldn't stop the tears from flowing anymore, not when Yunho was looking at him with such genuine concern in his eyes.
"You! You're what's wrong!"
"What?" Yunho said, looking startled at the outburst of emotion from someone who was normally so calm and unaffected. His hands reached out for Changmin automatically, but Changmin shoved them away.
"Was he good? Did you have fun with him?" Changmin hissed angrily, uselessly wiping his tears away only for more to come pouring down his face.
"Changmin what are you talking about?" Yunho was still trying to reach for him, but Changmin wasn't making anything easy.
"Luhan! I saw you leave with him last night! Was he good?"
"Oh. Oh Changmin, we didn't do anything. I took him to his parents house because he had a fever, he was sick," Yunho replied, voice gentle.
Now he was crying from relief, but Yunho didn't have to know that.
"You didn't come back," Changmin said, weakly trying to push him away.
"Because it was late."
Changmin managed to keep Yunho's arms away from around him, but the older man was stubborn, and settled for resting his hands on the wall on either side of Changmin's head.
Changmin had stopped resisting, but the tears refused to stop. He stared into Yunho's eyes, heart pounding.
"Besides, why should I have come back? I didn't have a boyfriend waiting for me," Yunho said quietly, reaching to wipe his tears away.
Changmin cried harder. "I hate you," he said, glaring at him, but the effect was ruined when his lower lip trembled.
Yunho sucked in a breath, eyes going back and forth between his eyes and his lips. "No you don't."
And then. And then and then and then.
Finally, finally, Yunho leaned towards him, bought those delicious lips toward him, and before Changmin knew what was happening those lips were pressing against his own and Changmin was sure his heart would stop beating.
His brain screamed at him to respond, so he did.
He closed his eyes, hands coming up to clutch at Yunho's collar, and then Changmin was kissing him back like he was a breath of fresh air.
It wasn't sweet and romantic; no, they had been holding off for far too long for it to be anything but desperate. He ravaged Yunho's lips, licked and bit and Yunho let him, responded in kind.
"Fuck," Yunho breathed into his mouth, sounding shaky.
He coaxed Changmin's mouth open and Changmin let him in, let him sweep his tongue across his own. Changmin couldn't stop the moan that escaped his lips, but it seemed to encourage Yunho; he tilted his head to the side, pressed closer. Yunho's arms circled his waist and Changmin bought his own up around Yunho's neck, tightening his hold so that Yunho was even closer.
Changmin pulled away to breathe, panting, pants too tight. All from a simple kiss. Oh, but what a kiss it was.
Yunho pushed him against the wall, pressing close to let Changmin feel his own erection, before kissing up his jawline, all the way to his ear.
"Changmin," he breathed hotly, licking and gently biting the shell of his ear, causing Changmin to shiver and moan.
Changmin whined, turned his head to kiss Yunho again. Yunho let him for a bit, but when his hand snaked down to undo Changmin's pants, he pulled away.
"Not-not here," he gasped, putting his hands on Yunho's chest to stop him.
Yunho groaned in frustration. "Where?"
"My place. It's not too far away," he replied, amazingly coherent, hands curling in Yunho's shirt.
"Okay then," Yunho said, leaning in to kiss him again. "Lead me on."
It took enormous amount of willpower, but Changmin managed to pull away, taking his hand as they exited the bathroom and left the club.
***
Across the bar, Heechul smirked.
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Pairing: Yunho/Changmin
Words: 3,740
Beta: chibisuz <3
Comments are love ^^ Also, this is the outfit Kyuhyun dresses Changmin in.
Raging with jealousy the night Yunho disappeared from the club with his arms around a pretty little Chinese exchange student, Changmin vent his outrage to Kyuhyun over shots of tequila.
Kyuhyun leisurely licked the salt off the back of his hand as Changmin took a shot and then grimaced before biting on a lime, face screwing up from the sourness.
"What exactly does that prissy little boy have that I don't?!" he asked as he wiped his mouth, feeling pleasantly buzzed.
"His name is Luhan, not prissy little boy," Kyuhyun explained patiently, on his first drink and so nowhere near as drunk as Changmin.
"I don't care! Why did he leave with him when he knows I'm here??" Changmin slurred.
"Maybe because Luhan was willing to go with him?"
Changmin ignored reason. "What does he even see in that kid? He must be so boring in bed, I bet he's a crier," Changmin said spitefully, jealousy making his vision red.
"I don't know about that, Changmin, Luhan is really kind of adorable," Kyuhyun replied doubtfully.
Changmin glared at him with a you-are-really-not-helping-you-insensitive-sod kind of glare and then downed another shot.
"He's not only adorable, he is really sweet and cute and pretty and gentle and friendly," Kyuhyun continued helpfully, making sure to list all the things Changmin was not.
"I'm cute and pretty," Changmin half mumbled half sniffed, lips turned down unhappily.
Seeing Changmin's despairing face, he went in for the kill. "Just like Yunho. They're practically made for each other."
But when Changmin's eyes started looking watery, guilt flashed through Kyuhyun's features.
"Wait dude don't cry!" he said hastily.
"Why would you say that!" Changmin wailed.
Kyuhyun sighed, patting him on the back. "I just wanted you to realize that if you don't do something now, you're really going to lose him. Plus I'm kind of sick and tired of listening to you moan Yunho's name in the shower every night."
But Changmin was not listening, having found a different topic to complain about. "You're supposed to be my best friend! You're supposed to agree with me! You're supposed to say Luhan is terrible in bed and that Yunho is the world's biggest jackass for daring to not give me attention!" Angrily, he took another shot, his sixth of the night.
"Changmin you're being very unfair," Kyuhyun said sternly. "Yunho has done nothing but give you attention. Even a blind guy could see how much he wants you. Now stop drinking so fast, that's enough."
He was right, but Changmin didn't want to be fair. "If he really wanted me he wouldn't be leaving with other guys," Changmin gritted, reaching for another drink but Kyuhyun smoothly took them out of his reach.
"Maybe he's sexually frustrated."
"He just needs to wait longer. Give that back."
"Changmin. Yunho has waited for you for two months. Two months! Does he look like the type to wait for someone for two months? No. Even I'm starting to feel bad for the man," Kyuhyun replied, ignoring his demand and pulling the tequila even further away.
Changmin face-planted on the table, giving up on life as he mumbled something incomprehensible even to him.
Kyuhyun, meanwhile, was tapping his fingers against the table, looking thoughtful. He picked up a lime and began to suck on it, lips puckered.
"So, um,dude, what was Donghae talking about the other day? About Yunho getting rejected?"
"I don't know, I've been thinking about it too," Changmin admitted, propping his chin on the table and fiddling with the salt shaker in front of him as he gazed at Kyuhyun with unfocused eyes.
"Could he have been talking about you? He did look mad at you," Kyuhyun said, watching him.
"But...I haven't rejected him," Changmin mumbled.
"Maybe he thinks you have."
Changmin suddenly felt anxious. He sat up straight. "Do you think that's why he...isn't like he was before?"
"You mean why he doesn't grovel at your feet like he usually does?" Kyuhyun asked with a raised brow.
Changmin scowled.
Kyuhyun grinned, then said seriously, "Maybe. You should do something if you don't want to lose him Changmin."
Changmin sighed. "If it's not already too late," he mumbled.
But Kyuhyun wasn’t done, it seemed. He was still watching Changmin carefully.
“What?” Changmin said, annoyed.
Kyuhyun pursed his lips, still watching him. “I want to say something but I don’t want you to get mad.”
Oh? Kyuhyun never needed Changmin’s permission to say something, because he said it whether or not Changmin wanted to hear it. This was serious. “Yes?” Changmin asked, curious despite himself.
“Do you think maybe…”
“What?”
Kyuhyun sighed. “Okay. Well. Why don’t we look at it from Yunho’s perspective.”
“Look at what?” Changmin asked, thoroughly confused. This conversation already seemed out of his reach, given how drunk he was.
“So it’s like this,” Kyuhyun began, and very slowly. “Yunho gave you his number. You didn’t call him for two weeks. He saw you in the club and came to talk to you. You ‘danced’ with him. You touched him. You turned him on. And then you left him. He saw you in the library and came to you. Again. For the third time. You talked to him, but mostly you kept him at a distance, but he didn’t give up. He gave you his number again, and kept talking to you, and studying with you. He asked you to go to parties with him and spend the night, but you said no. He touched you here and there, you didn’t really discourage him. But then when he tried to talk to you about whatever was between the two of you, you shut him down. So now here he is, having spent the last two months trying to get somewhere with you, and you haven’t responded. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”
Changmin stared at him for a few moments, slightly stunned by the long speech. He was way too drunk for this.
Kyuhyun raised an expectant eyebrow. “Well?”
Changmin thought about it, very hard, trying to figure out what his weird best friend was trying to say. “That it’s all Yunho’s fault?” he suggested.
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “No, Changmin, I’m saying it’s all your fault.”
Changmin looked at him with all the indignance of a drunk. “It is not all my fault!”
“What isn’t?”
“I don’t know, but I know it’s not my fault!”
Kyuhyun sighed. He did that a lot these days, Changmin noticed absentmindedly. “Changmin, did you understand what I said?”
“No, but I know it wasn’t my fault,” Changmin replied proudly.
Kyuhyun reached across the table and took his face in his hands. But not gently or anything, because that was gay, and Kyuhyun wasn’t gay. How rude of him to be so rough. He wanted Yunho to hold his face gently, but then he remembered he was supposed to be mad at Yunho, but he didn’t remember why he had to be, but that didn’t matter. He was going to be mad anyway. He was sure Yunho deserved to be mad at. “Changmin,” Kyuhyun said, shaking his head a bit. See. Not gentle at all. Yunho wouldn’t do that.
“What.”
“Changmin, what I’m trying to say is that Yunho might think you’re playing with him. And that he might be hurt.”
Changmin stared at him. Kyuhyun stared back. “What,” he said finally.
Kyuhyun stopped holding his face in a not-gay way and sat back. “Do you understand me now?”
“I think so,” Changmin replied, biting his lower lip.
Kyuhyun didn’t seem to believe him, and crossed his arms across his chest. Yunho’s chest was much nicer, Changmin thought proudly. “Then explain to me what I just said,” he said, in that way professors sometimes asked when they didn’t believe you, but that was not good because now Changmin was thinking of student-teacher fantasies, and it was doubly not good because he imagined Kyuhyun in his fantasy because Kyuhyun was right in front of him. And that was gross. Because Kyuhyun was his best friend. Ew.
He was startled when fingers snapped in front of his face. “What?”
“Changmin, stay focused. I asked for an explanation.”
Changmin had to think for a moment to remember what he was talking about, and then brightened. “You wanted to know if I understood,” he said, as if he had solved a particularly difficult Macro question.
“Yes, good, now did you?”
“Yes,” Changmin replied in the same tone.
Kyuhyun made an impatient sound. “Well?”
“You tried to tell me Yunho is a bastard for feeling hurt, because he has no right to be hurt,” Changmin answered confidently.
Kyuhyun slapped his forehead.
And then he reached across and shook Changmin’s shoulders roughly. “No, Changmin, I’m trying to tell you that Yunho thinks you’re playing him!”
That finally clicked. Maybe he needed to be shaken by his shoulders more often.“What? Playing him?” Changmin said weakly. “Do you really think that’s what he thinks?”
Kyuhyun sat back, seemingly relieved that Changmin was finally getting it,and shrugged. “That’s what I would think, if some girl did that to me.” He paused, apparently thinking, then shook his head. “Wow, Yunho is a saint, I would be right furious and never talk to her again.”
Fuck.
***
The next day was a Saturday, and after spending half the morning lazing around in bed and trying to will his hangover away, Changmin finally got up to get some work done. He took a shower, and feeling a bit better about himself, ate a quick breakfast and settled down at his desk.
His brain decided it had better things to do than focus on Advanced Macro Analysis, like think about Yunho. More specifically, about Yunho leaving with Luhan the previous night.
To say he was jealous and mad at Yunho was an understatement. To leave with another boy, right in front of him, when he knew Changmin was there, seemed almost like he didn't give two fucks about how Changmin felt. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't stop himself from feeling hurt, upset with Yunho for being so careless with his feelings. It was like his ex all over again, and maybe that thought hurt the most, because he didn't want to compare someone as sweet and kind as Yunho to an asshole like his ex.
But was Yunho still sweet and kind after last night? Afterall, Changmin had always heard rumors about the man, rumors of him being a rampant Casanova. Maybe he was finally beginning to show his true colors. Changmin didn't want to think that about Yunho though, had learned that there was more to the older man than what the rumors always said about him.
After all, he reasoned with himself, Changmin was not his boyfriend. As much as the thought pained him, he was logical enough to admit it to himself. Yunho was a full grown male, and was not tied to someone else. He had every right to sleep with whoever he wanted; who was Changmin to tell him what he could and couldn't do?
Plus now, with Kyuhyun’s most insightful analysis last night, which he had been able to better understand in his sober state, he had to deal with the guilt that he might have unintentionally hurt Yunho. A spiteful part of him was happy at the thought that Yunho was hurt, for no other reason than that Changmin himself was miserable, but the other part, the one that was too fond of Yunho, felt terrible.
After thinking about it some more, he came to the conclusion that his heart was an ass.
All the logic in the world couldn't make him feel better though.
Moping about it wasn't helping him, however, so he forced the issue from his mind, convincing himself he was perfectly okay. Taking deep breaths to relax himself, he focused on the work in front of him and managed to work through the assignments that had been steadily piling up. He lost himself in his homework eventually; the logic of Macro was much more comforting and familiar to him than his mess of human emotions were.
Kyuhyun came in around dinner time, snapping his books shut. Changmin jumped, startled. "Alright nerd, time to get ready!"
"For what?" Changmin asked suspiciously.
"The club, duh," Kyuhyun replied, rolling his eyes.
"No I don't want to go."
"Good thing your opinion doesn't matter," Kyuhyun replied cheerfully, putting his hands on Changmin's shoulders to pull him away.
"Kyuhyun stop, I'm serious," Changmin said, clutching the edge of the desk to stop himself from being dragged away.
"Changmin so am I. Get your ass up."
"Kyu please," he whined, turning Bambi eyes on him. "I can't go back, Yunho might be there!"
"That's exactly why we're going back, you idiot. And why are you using your aegyo on me? Do I look like Yunho hyung to you?"
Oh well, it had been worth a try.
"Kyuuuuuu," he sighed dramatically.
Despite his many protests, he was forced into leather pants and a black shimmering shirt with a blazer on top.
"Why are you so determined to take me there anyway," he said as he pulled the pants up, grumbling all the while.
"Because you are going to get to the bottom of this thing between you guys even if it kills me," Kyuhyun said, standing over Changmin's dresser as he decided on cologne as though his very life depended on it.
Changmin continued his unhappy muttering, determined to make this as difficult as possible for his admittedly awesome but annoying as hell best friend.
Kyuhyun steadfastly ignored him, used to his grouchiness and anti-social tendencies.
Kyuhyun then did something to his hair so that it was wavy and covering one eye. He had to admit he looked pretty good.
He asked Kyuhyun for his opinion.
Nodding as he looked him up and down, Kyuhyun said, “You look just like a male prostitute.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Changmin said dryly.
“Good, it was meant to be one,” Kyuhyun replied cheerfully, clapping him on the back.
“So, um, why am I getting so dressed up?” Changmin asked, turning around in front of the mirror to check his back.
“Because tonight, my friend, you are getting laid,” Kyuhyun said smoothly, brushing away imaginary lint while ignoring Changmin’s glare.
***
Now, Changmin was sitting with his usual group of friends, minus Minho. Poor guy was too young to be admitted into the club, and they weren't enough of bad kids to fake ID's. Of course, Changmin and Kyuhyun constantly reminded him of all the things he missed out on rather gleefully.
Donghae and Yunho had made peace, apparently. They had walked over as soon as they spotted Changmin and Kyuhyun sitting together by the bar, and then dragged them away to their own table after getting their drinks.
Changmin had gotten over Yunho leaving with Luhan the previous night. His hangover of epic proportions that morning had helped.
Well, he thought he had. His heart kicked him, reminding him that no you little shit you're not okay.
As soon as he saw Yunho, he almost ran out of the club, and would have succeeded too had it not been for Kyuhyun’s fingers digging into his forearm, muttering under his breath at him to keep it together, man.
Friends. What would he do without them? Nothing, that's what.
There wasn’t much of a conversation going on. Things had gotten worse between them after Changmin had forced Yunho to go to the nurse last Monday. Yunho had joined them for lunch only twice that week, and hadn't come to the library at all, always having an excuse. Lunch itself had become quieter and less cheerful than before, a strange tension in the air every time the group gathered. Changmin had wondered why Donghae and Siwon still bothered to come when Yunho didn’t, but then realized it was because they had taken a genuine liking of the three younger boys.
Changmin had felt the first pangs of aches in his chest, and when he tried to find the problem that was causing him so much stress, no matter how many times he analyzed his feelings or how many different paths he looked at, the conclusion was always the same: he was in love with Jung Yunho, and it was only when Yunho had backed off that he realized it.
Changmin accepted that fact, and resigned himself to the very real possibility that Yunho did not want him anymore, not the way Changmin wanted him. And why would he, after Changmin's behavior around him had been so inconsistent and confusing?
He was still confused by Yunho's behavior though. Although Yunho wasn’t as he was before with him, he still smiled warmly at Changmin and, even now, had come to drag him away the minute he saw him.
Heechul wasn't helping. Changmin had finally, formally, met the man that night. Yunho had introduced him and then Heechul had proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes observing Changmin.
Really, the man was not doing anything to even try and make himself likable.
In normal circumstances, Changmin would have looked to Yunho for some sense of security, Yunho might have even told his hyung to stop making him uncomfortable; but circumstances weren't normal, so Changmin didn't look at Yunho, and Yunho didn't notice Changmin's discomfort.
He fiddled with his bottle instead, looking down and slightly bored while conversation floated around him.
"So Yurobbong, tell me who you've hooked up with recently," an annoying voice drawled, a voice that could only belong to Heechul.
He glanced up at the same time Yunho's eyes slid over to him.
But then he looked away, and Changmin wondered with a sinking feeling when they had become so distant.
"No one much," Yunho replied vaguely.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"No one stood out?" Heechul prodded. "None of them were good fucks?"
"Heechul," Yunho warned, glaring.
"Yunho," he replied sweetly.
"Didn't you leave with Luhan last night?" Donghae said while taking a swig from his bottle, the last thing Changmin heard before he couldn't take it any more.
He excused himself calmly, voice thankfully steady, and walked away, chest constricting painfully and throat hurting from trying to keep the tears at bay.
He made it to the bathroom without bawling his eyes out, but it wasn't until Yunho walked in right behind him and locked the door that he felt the dam behind his eyes would break.
"Changmin what's wrong?"
And break it did.
He couldn't stop the tears from flowing anymore, not when Yunho was looking at him with such genuine concern in his eyes.
"You! You're what's wrong!"
"What?" Yunho said, looking startled at the outburst of emotion from someone who was normally so calm and unaffected. His hands reached out for Changmin automatically, but Changmin shoved them away.
"Was he good? Did you have fun with him?" Changmin hissed angrily, uselessly wiping his tears away only for more to come pouring down his face.
"Changmin what are you talking about?" Yunho was still trying to reach for him, but Changmin wasn't making anything easy.
"Luhan! I saw you leave with him last night! Was he good?"
"Oh. Oh Changmin, we didn't do anything. I took him to his parents house because he had a fever, he was sick," Yunho replied, voice gentle.
Now he was crying from relief, but Yunho didn't have to know that.
"You didn't come back," Changmin said, weakly trying to push him away.
"Because it was late."
Changmin managed to keep Yunho's arms away from around him, but the older man was stubborn, and settled for resting his hands on the wall on either side of Changmin's head.
Changmin had stopped resisting, but the tears refused to stop. He stared into Yunho's eyes, heart pounding.
"Besides, why should I have come back? I didn't have a boyfriend waiting for me," Yunho said quietly, reaching to wipe his tears away.
Changmin cried harder. "I hate you," he said, glaring at him, but the effect was ruined when his lower lip trembled.
Yunho sucked in a breath, eyes going back and forth between his eyes and his lips. "No you don't."
And then. And then and then and then.
Finally, finally, Yunho leaned towards him, bought those delicious lips toward him, and before Changmin knew what was happening those lips were pressing against his own and Changmin was sure his heart would stop beating.
His brain screamed at him to respond, so he did.
He closed his eyes, hands coming up to clutch at Yunho's collar, and then Changmin was kissing him back like he was a breath of fresh air.
It wasn't sweet and romantic; no, they had been holding off for far too long for it to be anything but desperate. He ravaged Yunho's lips, licked and bit and Yunho let him, responded in kind.
"Fuck," Yunho breathed into his mouth, sounding shaky.
He coaxed Changmin's mouth open and Changmin let him in, let him sweep his tongue across his own. Changmin couldn't stop the moan that escaped his lips, but it seemed to encourage Yunho; he tilted his head to the side, pressed closer. Yunho's arms circled his waist and Changmin bought his own up around Yunho's neck, tightening his hold so that Yunho was even closer.
Changmin pulled away to breathe, panting, pants too tight. All from a simple kiss. Oh, but what a kiss it was.
Yunho pushed him against the wall, pressing close to let Changmin feel his own erection, before kissing up his jawline, all the way to his ear.
"Changmin," he breathed hotly, licking and gently biting the shell of his ear, causing Changmin to shiver and moan.
Changmin whined, turned his head to kiss Yunho again. Yunho let him for a bit, but when his hand snaked down to undo Changmin's pants, he pulled away.
"Not-not here," he gasped, putting his hands on Yunho's chest to stop him.
Yunho groaned in frustration. "Where?"
"My place. It's not too far away," he replied, amazingly coherent, hands curling in Yunho's shirt.
"Okay then," Yunho said, leaning in to kiss him again. "Lead me on."
It took enormous amount of willpower, but Changmin managed to pull away, taking his hand as they exited the bathroom and left the club.
***
Across the bar, Heechul smirked.
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