Title: Paintings Of The World
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Sungmin
Rating: R
Genre: Angst, Brotherhood, Romance, Slice of Life
Summary: It was just a dream; a dream that tells him of a painting for the future.
The man in his dreams was suffocated, so much that he stepped out of it and went into his arms.
Narrator's POV
It was like a fresh painting – the virgin brushings were still raw. There were flaws in it, strokes that looked unreal and cartooned and details that should have been present; were not. It came once a month at most and then it increases.
The painting gradually dries and the picture became more formidable. The creases on the forehead that were not there began to appear, the wrinkles of a smile was clearer.
However, as the picture slowly began to dry and the shapely face of a young male was made visible, it suddenly stopped. He didn’t dwell on it, didn’t give it time to become an importance in his life.
He gave the rows of audience that were seated in front of him a small confident smile before cracking his neck and flexing his fingers.
They were long and thin as they touched the cold, smooth expanse of the keys. The music sounded, starting off slow and gentle like he himself was. His eyes fluttered shut. His fingers were a natural; almost convinced that they were created, crafted to perfection for the black and white keys.
He was twenty and the world was his.
:::
They say an author has a mere two hundred words to capture a reader’s attention. It was do or die. And in most cases, it is the same when meeting a new friend. You have two minutes before they decide whether you are likeable or unusual (of course in a very nasty way).
Then again, sometimes, we come across those special stories that entangle us in a pool of surprises. It wouldn’t feel unpleasant, at least not for him. It wasn’t pleasant either, no, but it was truly a distinctive feeling.
Most stories are fairly predictable. You meet the characters, and you may not know who is important, but you know they are in some way. You would be introduced to locations and items that you just knowwill be of significance in some way. And then there’s a degree of excitement in knowing that you would be thrown into that world soon.
However, some stories are not like that. In some stories, you have no way of knowing what is going to happen, largely because it comes out of nowhere. And the next plot event comes out of nowhere. And so on - without being set up or having any sort of logical lead-up from previous events.
His story is a little bizarre. He knew the moment he saw the boy’s face that they would be tied by a string called fate even while he also knew that he’ll try to run from it. Somewhere in the middle of finding the perfect end to his story, his own perfected features were tested. It got harder and harder to maintain his composure as surprise after surprise greeted him with a smug face.
“You!” was his first word to the boy. Man, he corrected himself internally.
The boy raised his brows. “Me,” he said lazily. That was his first surprise. How dare he – he was a star.
“Who are you?” he questioned. He had definitely seen the boy before. Definitely.
“Mr Lee, you’re in my office,” the boy retorted calmly. “That question itself is absurd seeing that you camehere -though I wouldn’t mind kidnapping you.”
He scowled as the boy gave him a thorough look with his perverted gaze, which he would later claim. He crossed his arms over his chest on instinct and the boy let out a low, amused chuckle.
“I wouldn’t think that there’s anything for me to see there, Mr Lee.”
The boy was a dentist, a dentist! He was supposed to be nice, greeting him with a goofy smile, dancing on his butt!
“I’m a tooth doctor, Mr Lee, not some clown.”
Oh, so he hasn’t been all that secretive with his thoughts.
“My tooth needs help,” he said, trying to avoid any more stupid arguments.
He ignored as the dentist rolled his eyes and muttered an obviously under his breath. He made himself comfortable on the seat, ignored the jolt as the dentist cupped his face in one (firm and warm) hand to look up.
He felt a little violated (exaggeration again) as the dentist manhandled his mouth, doing whatever it was that dentists do. As soon as the dentist was done, he could have sworn that the hand on his face lingered a moment more than it should.
“You have soft skin.”
His head should not have whipped around as fast as it did. He swore he had Jackie Chan’s blood in him. “Excuse me?”
Was that a blush on –
“I mean for an ugly man like you.”
Forget the blush. He would have killed the dentist if it weren’t because of the preciousness of his fingers.
“I paid for your services, shouldn’t you be a professional and say thank you, Lee Sungmin for gracing me with your presence?” he snapped, annoyed.
The dentist cocked his brow, amused.
He sighed, taking that stupid, stupid eyebrow as a cue for him to leave.
“My name is Cho Kyuhyun!”
He ignored as the dentist shouted after him and slammed the door. It scared him because he knew, even with his back turned to the dentist, and even with the door separating them that the dentist was smiling,wide and happy.
:::
“You abused your authority.”
There, seated across from him with his legs crossed was Cho Kyuhyun, the obnoxious dentist. He took the steaming mug of Caramel Hot Chocolate from the boy- man, with eyebrows furrowed. He wanted to wipe out the confident smile on the dentist’s face – most preferably with a strong punch.
“I merely took a look at your files,” Kyuhyun defended.
“Abusing your authority.”
Kyuhyun laughed. When the laughter slowed to a soft smile, he shocked himself when a no, keep laughingflashed through his mind. Kyuhyun’s smile was for him, his eyes especially on him – only him (even though that barista was totally trying to hit on him just moments ago). He felt his heart stuttered, stumbled and cursed Kyuhyun inwardly.
“Why isn’t there any caramel drizzle on the whipped cream?” he opted to say instead.
Kyuhyun raised his brow. “Are you really as preposterous as you look?”
“What do you mean as you look? I look amazing, you asshole.”
“There,” Kyuhyun scoffed, nodding his head towards him. “That snobbish attitude; I would have thought you were some sort of an idol rather than a pianist. Do your parents always pamper you that much?”
His face hardened. “I’m just going to get some drizzle,” he said as he abruptly stood up. He should have hated Kyuhyun for touching into a subject he shouldn’t, but he didn’t. That itself made Kyuhyun a tad bit more special than anyone else.
:::
You know, they say that love is a cunning little witch. It hides in an alley; the irony of something so beautiful being wedged in a dark, cold place present. Love hides and attack the ones most unsuspecting.
The feeling of insecurity is generally of unease – a sense of vulnerability or instability which threatens you; or in his case, threatens the wall he’s been building throughout the years.
“You’re dating your dentist?”
The first blow came three months after he met Kyuhyun. He froze, spinning his body around slowly to face the speaker. It was his brother.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jin.”
“The first step is denial, hyung,” Sungjin said. “You’ve been fussing over your phone screen since you woke up.”
He stared. “I’m going to practice.”
Sungjin frowned as he scrambled up, picking up his phone and tucking it deep into his coat. “Hyung-”
“Jin, don’t,” he sighed, cutting off his brother. “Not right now.”
“You have the world screaming your name,” Sungjin shouted just as he was about to slam the door shut. His hand seemingly gelled itself and he stopped. “They know your name at the back of their palms. It’s about time you learn someone else’s name too, hyung.”
“I can’t, Jin. I can’t.”
:::
He didn’t know how it happened. For the first hour, they were watching a movie on the soft couch of Kyuhyun's apartment and the next; they were finding each other on the younger male’s bed.
Kyuhyun's lips were persistent and hard on his, moving together in synchronize. He let out a strangled cry as his shirt was torn open, growling slightly at Kyuhyun.
“My fucking shirt, you asshole,” he snarled into the kiss.
“Shut up. Just shut up.”
Hooking a finger into Kyuhyun's belt loops, he brought together their hips. A sharp intake of breath from above him told him that he had done the right thing.
He knew what it would led to, knew it well and knew that he would regret it. He didn’t think, didn’t want to think as Kyuhyun slid up into him, all warm and filling. He felt the soft kisses on his face, so gentle, so caring as the pain contorted his perfect features.
The pleasure that came was overwhelming. It was scary; it was something big, something so huge to him that it rendered him speechless.
When he felt the need to grab, he surprised himself as his palm fitted the crook of Kyuhyun's underarms. Kyuhyun was warm above him. He was thin, having fats all in the right places and he found himself screaming the latter’s name as he came, white strikes blinding his vision.
He trembled violently as Kyuhyun bit his neck, coming quietly and moaning just what sounded like his name. He felt as though he was torn open as Kyuhyun continued slamming into him, riding off his aftershocks.
That morning when Kyuhyun woke up, he was gone.
He chickened out.
:::
Yes, Kyuhyun was an absolute brat. He was rude at times and you know that filter in your head that tells you the certain words that you shouldn’t say? Yeah, Kyuhyun doesn’t have that.
But Kyuhyun was also kind. He really was. Kyuhyun understood him more than he had claimed. Kyuhyun doesn’t question him why he ran away. Kyuhyun understood even without asking.
He was disgusted with himself because that was the scariest part of Kyuhyun – that he knows him so well; he didn’t even have to say a word.
When he told Kyuhyun he wanted an end, the man didn’t even bat an eyelash. Kyuhyun looked at him, straight in the eye and he knew Kyuhyun knew that he was lying through his teeth. Why?
He didn’t have a heart to push Kyuhyun away as the man took his hand. He stared as their fingers naturally moved, holding each other so delicately. It fitted just right, nothing too excessive. It hurt Sungmin more than it should have.
“What are you trying to do?”
He let his eyes linger a moment longer on their fingers before tearing them away and met Kyuhyun's awaiting ones. “What are you talking about?”
Kyuhyun looked at him; eyes locked on his features without saying anything for a long while. He sighed, loosening his hold on Sungmin's hand just a tad bit and had to force back a smile as Sungmin naturally tightened his hold, unwilling to let go.
“Why do you want this to end?”
Kyuhyun's voice was genuinely curious as he shook their intertwined fingers gently. “I don’t understand why you want this to end, Min.”
He froze, faltered for a moment. “I-”
Even as the full force of reluctance hit him, he clenched his eyes and pulled their hands apart. His hand felt colder, he didn’t want to understand why. He didn’t falter the second time, didn’t let himself think as he stood up.
“I can’t do this.”
“You want this.”
The argument was strong. It was true, so, so true but he didn’t want to accept it and didn’t want to give in. “It isn’t right, Kyu. I’m a man.”
“Whom I love.”
“Don’t do this to me, Kyu.”
Kyuhyun scoffed in disbelief. “You don’t this to me, to us.”
He kept silent.
“Jesus Christ, Min,” Kyuhyun snarled. His eyes refused to meet with Sungmin’s. “The monsters you’re afraid of aren’t around us. It lives in your head.”
Sungmin still didn’t know why he let Kyuhyun walk away.
:::
“You okay, buddy?”
He turned around, faced his brother and smiled a forced smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Sungjin frowned. “You shouldn’t try that on me.”
He let his shoulders slumped and leaned fully on his brother. “Jin, I don’t think I can do it.”
“That’s nonsense,” Sungjin scoffed. “You’ve waited for this day ever since you were four. You wanted to play in the palace since you were that young. And hyung, I was two when you were four! It just tells you how much you annoyingly want this so much that I remember.”
He sighed.
“Hyung,” Sungjin shook his head, looking down at his brother disapprovingly. He hesitated, contemplate whether it was worth saying them now. But as Sungmin’s doe eyes looked up at him, he laid it open. “Don’t do this to yourself. Don’t do this to him either, hyung. Nobody’s going to win this way.”
“Jin…”
“I have never, hyung, never seen you smile that huge before,” Sungjin whispered. “Not once were you that happy, not even when you got your first piano. He makes you happy. You make him happy.”
Sungmin stared. “Jin,” he croaked. He closed his eyes, clamping them shut so tightly that he trembled. “I’m scared. I’m just-”
“You shouldn’t be. I know you, hyung. I know you’ll make it,” Sungjin said. Sungmin didn’t have a heart to disagree with his brother’s confident tone.
“Now go out there and blow them away. Finish them off and go after your man.”
:::
He burst through the door. The occupants inside looked up in shock.
“I’ll leave,” the secretary excused himself, leaving a red file on the desk before fleeing in record time.
Kyuhyun’s eyes looked up and met his lazily, though the tightening hold on the desk didn’t go unnoticed by Sungmin.
He ignored as the door slammed shut behind him. “You didn’t come.”
His eyes were on the young dentist and his tone were accusing. “You wanted me to?” Kyuhyun asked, voice mocking.
He didn’t have an answer for that.
“What are you doing here?”
He could feel it coming; the insecurities, the thought that he wasn’t good enough and Kyuhyun doesn’twant him. Before it all reached its full blow, before he backed out again for the umpteenth time, he said the words.
“I want you.”
He was trembling, willing himself to not bolt out or clench his eyes shut for that matter. Kyuhyun stared at him, looked at him properly, looked at his shaking lips, looked at his rigid figure and looked at his fisted fingers.
He resisted the urge as his lips twitched. “Well, wasn’t that suggestive.”
Sungmin growled. “Kyuhyun, I’m being serious.”
Kyuhyun sighed as he stood up. Sungmin's eyes followed him. Somewhere deep inside, he could feel something bubbling furiously in his stomach. The fear poked him as he stared at Kyuhyun's impassive face. It prickled his eyes, and he suspected that he was going to have a panic attack; because Kyuhyun was giving up, Kyuhyun was no longer fighting – for him, for them.
"K-Kyuhy-”
Kyuhyun spun around, staring at Sungmin curiously. Sungmin was facing him, but he wasn’t looking, wasn’t seeing him. He pushed back the urge to sigh again. “Min, what ar-”
“I was scared,” he cut off, the panic still brewing in him. “I swear I was afraid.”
“What’s there to be afraid of, Min?”
“I don’t kn- I don’t know how to do this,” he confessed. “I don’t know how to do love. As far as I could remember, I only had Jin by me. I want to use that as an excuse, but I know I can’t. Jin's struggling with it too, but he’s so, so much better.”
“I was trying to find myself. Honest to god, Kyu, I don’t know how I ended up finding you instead. I didn’t realize, didn’t know what to do. I want you beside me, all the time, even if you were to just stand beside me, I want you with me. I tried running away. I was confused. Dear god, I tried to run but wherever I go, the roads led me back to you. It was so scary, I co-”
He looked down. He choked, unable to go on. He had laid it all open, had showed everything he had kept hidden to Kyuhyun. It was months past two minutes of their first meeting, but it was his do or die and he waited - waited to die.
He flinched as he heard footsteps padded across to him.
Kyuhyun stood, hovered over him and he gulped. “Why are you crying?” Kyuhyun whispered, voice low and deep, sending a shudder through his every vein. He could only look as Kyuhyun took his clenched hands and untangled them.
“You came back,” Kyuhyun whispered. The man let his hands linger on Sungmin's warm ones. “You pushed me away but you came back. That’s all that matters, right?”
He nodded as vigorously as he could in their position. His eyes fluttered shut as Kyuhyun stroke the cheeks with the pad of his thumbs. He leaned more into the welcoming hand, only opening his eyes as he felt lips grazing his forehead.
His eyes met Kyuhyun’s and with the sunlight blaring in from the window behind him, a sudden wave ofdéjà vu hit him. He gasped.
“You’re the person in the painting.”
“What?”
He stared, probably a moment too long but shook his head in the end. “Nothing,” he whispered, letting out a shaky breath in disbelief. Kyuhyun was his from the start.
“I was there, you know,” Kyuhyun whispered, gaining back his attention. Huh, when did his hand get around me?
He squeaked as Kyuhyun pulled his body closer, their chest touching just for a moment before he wiggled loose. “Y-You were?”
Kyuhyun chuckled. “Yeah, I was hiding at the back,” he confessed. “You were brilliant. You always are.”
He smiled shyly. “Thank you,” he whispered. “For coming.”
“Min, can I kiss you?”
He looked up, eyes wide and startled. He gulped, nodding slowly. When Kyuhyun’s face inched closer, his eyes fluttered shut, and allowed himself to drown in Kyuhyun’s affections.
He knew as soon as their lips met how stupid he was to have tried to push that away. He accepted it then – accepted how it was no longer his world, but their world.
the end.
---the paintings:
it is a metaphor for Sungmin's dreams. Min was having dreams about Kyu from the start. Virgin paintings, unreal strokes = Kyuhyun's face was still blurred and undefined. It was far away. Painting starting to dry = when the dreams continued, Kyu's face started to become more defined (wrinkles of a smile, forehead creases). But before Kyu's face was really painted fully, the dreams stop. That was also when he first met Kyuhyun.
---black and white keyboards
Sungmin is a world class pianist
---at the cafe
no, they weren't dating yet but Kyuhyun abused his authority as the dentist to look through Min's files for personal gain (a.k.a because he find Sungmin attractive)
---Insecurities & Sungjin
it was implied that Min and Jin's parents are not with them. i didn't say whether they were dead or merely abandoned the brothers. they're just not there and Min suffered because of it. that was mainly where Min's insecurities came from.
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Sungmin
Rating: R
Genre: Angst, Brotherhood, Romance, Slice of Life
Summary: It was just a dream; a dream that tells him of a painting for the future.
The man in his dreams was suffocated, so much that he stepped out of it and went into his arms.
Narrator's POV
It was like a fresh painting – the virgin brushings were still raw. There were flaws in it, strokes that looked unreal and cartooned and details that should have been present; were not. It came once a month at most and then it increases.
The painting gradually dries and the picture became more formidable. The creases on the forehead that were not there began to appear, the wrinkles of a smile was clearer.
However, as the picture slowly began to dry and the shapely face of a young male was made visible, it suddenly stopped. He didn’t dwell on it, didn’t give it time to become an importance in his life.
He gave the rows of audience that were seated in front of him a small confident smile before cracking his neck and flexing his fingers.
They were long and thin as they touched the cold, smooth expanse of the keys. The music sounded, starting off slow and gentle like he himself was. His eyes fluttered shut. His fingers were a natural; almost convinced that they were created, crafted to perfection for the black and white keys.
He was twenty and the world was his.
:::
They say an author has a mere two hundred words to capture a reader’s attention. It was do or die. And in most cases, it is the same when meeting a new friend. You have two minutes before they decide whether you are likeable or unusual (of course in a very nasty way).
Then again, sometimes, we come across those special stories that entangle us in a pool of surprises. It wouldn’t feel unpleasant, at least not for him. It wasn’t pleasant either, no, but it was truly a distinctive feeling.
Most stories are fairly predictable. You meet the characters, and you may not know who is important, but you know they are in some way. You would be introduced to locations and items that you just knowwill be of significance in some way. And then there’s a degree of excitement in knowing that you would be thrown into that world soon.
However, some stories are not like that. In some stories, you have no way of knowing what is going to happen, largely because it comes out of nowhere. And the next plot event comes out of nowhere. And so on - without being set up or having any sort of logical lead-up from previous events.
His story is a little bizarre. He knew the moment he saw the boy’s face that they would be tied by a string called fate even while he also knew that he’ll try to run from it. Somewhere in the middle of finding the perfect end to his story, his own perfected features were tested. It got harder and harder to maintain his composure as surprise after surprise greeted him with a smug face.
“You!” was his first word to the boy. Man, he corrected himself internally.
The boy raised his brows. “Me,” he said lazily. That was his first surprise. How dare he – he was a star.
“Who are you?” he questioned. He had definitely seen the boy before. Definitely.
“Mr Lee, you’re in my office,” the boy retorted calmly. “That question itself is absurd seeing that you camehere -though I wouldn’t mind kidnapping you.”
He scowled as the boy gave him a thorough look with his perverted gaze, which he would later claim. He crossed his arms over his chest on instinct and the boy let out a low, amused chuckle.
“I wouldn’t think that there’s anything for me to see there, Mr Lee.”
The boy was a dentist, a dentist! He was supposed to be nice, greeting him with a goofy smile, dancing on his butt!
“I’m a tooth doctor, Mr Lee, not some clown.”
Oh, so he hasn’t been all that secretive with his thoughts.
“My tooth needs help,” he said, trying to avoid any more stupid arguments.
He ignored as the dentist rolled his eyes and muttered an obviously under his breath. He made himself comfortable on the seat, ignored the jolt as the dentist cupped his face in one (firm and warm) hand to look up.
He felt a little violated (exaggeration again) as the dentist manhandled his mouth, doing whatever it was that dentists do. As soon as the dentist was done, he could have sworn that the hand on his face lingered a moment more than it should.
“You have soft skin.”
His head should not have whipped around as fast as it did. He swore he had Jackie Chan’s blood in him. “Excuse me?”
Was that a blush on –
“I mean for an ugly man like you.”
Forget the blush. He would have killed the dentist if it weren’t because of the preciousness of his fingers.
“I paid for your services, shouldn’t you be a professional and say thank you, Lee Sungmin for gracing me with your presence?” he snapped, annoyed.
The dentist cocked his brow, amused.
He sighed, taking that stupid, stupid eyebrow as a cue for him to leave.
“My name is Cho Kyuhyun!”
He ignored as the dentist shouted after him and slammed the door. It scared him because he knew, even with his back turned to the dentist, and even with the door separating them that the dentist was smiling,wide and happy.
:::
“You abused your authority.”
There, seated across from him with his legs crossed was Cho Kyuhyun, the obnoxious dentist. He took the steaming mug of Caramel Hot Chocolate from the boy- man, with eyebrows furrowed. He wanted to wipe out the confident smile on the dentist’s face – most preferably with a strong punch.
“I merely took a look at your files,” Kyuhyun defended.
“Abusing your authority.”
Kyuhyun laughed. When the laughter slowed to a soft smile, he shocked himself when a no, keep laughingflashed through his mind. Kyuhyun’s smile was for him, his eyes especially on him – only him (even though that barista was totally trying to hit on him just moments ago). He felt his heart stuttered, stumbled and cursed Kyuhyun inwardly.
“Why isn’t there any caramel drizzle on the whipped cream?” he opted to say instead.
Kyuhyun raised his brow. “Are you really as preposterous as you look?”
“What do you mean as you look? I look amazing, you asshole.”
“There,” Kyuhyun scoffed, nodding his head towards him. “That snobbish attitude; I would have thought you were some sort of an idol rather than a pianist. Do your parents always pamper you that much?”
His face hardened. “I’m just going to get some drizzle,” he said as he abruptly stood up. He should have hated Kyuhyun for touching into a subject he shouldn’t, but he didn’t. That itself made Kyuhyun a tad bit more special than anyone else.
:::
You know, they say that love is a cunning little witch. It hides in an alley; the irony of something so beautiful being wedged in a dark, cold place present. Love hides and attack the ones most unsuspecting.
The feeling of insecurity is generally of unease – a sense of vulnerability or instability which threatens you; or in his case, threatens the wall he’s been building throughout the years.
“You’re dating your dentist?”
The first blow came three months after he met Kyuhyun. He froze, spinning his body around slowly to face the speaker. It was his brother.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jin.”
“The first step is denial, hyung,” Sungjin said. “You’ve been fussing over your phone screen since you woke up.”
He stared. “I’m going to practice.”
Sungjin frowned as he scrambled up, picking up his phone and tucking it deep into his coat. “Hyung-”
“Jin, don’t,” he sighed, cutting off his brother. “Not right now.”
“You have the world screaming your name,” Sungjin shouted just as he was about to slam the door shut. His hand seemingly gelled itself and he stopped. “They know your name at the back of their palms. It’s about time you learn someone else’s name too, hyung.”
“I can’t, Jin. I can’t.”
:::
He didn’t know how it happened. For the first hour, they were watching a movie on the soft couch of Kyuhyun's apartment and the next; they were finding each other on the younger male’s bed.
Kyuhyun's lips were persistent and hard on his, moving together in synchronize. He let out a strangled cry as his shirt was torn open, growling slightly at Kyuhyun.
“My fucking shirt, you asshole,” he snarled into the kiss.
“Shut up. Just shut up.”
Hooking a finger into Kyuhyun's belt loops, he brought together their hips. A sharp intake of breath from above him told him that he had done the right thing.
He knew what it would led to, knew it well and knew that he would regret it. He didn’t think, didn’t want to think as Kyuhyun slid up into him, all warm and filling. He felt the soft kisses on his face, so gentle, so caring as the pain contorted his perfect features.
The pleasure that came was overwhelming. It was scary; it was something big, something so huge to him that it rendered him speechless.
When he felt the need to grab, he surprised himself as his palm fitted the crook of Kyuhyun's underarms. Kyuhyun was warm above him. He was thin, having fats all in the right places and he found himself screaming the latter’s name as he came, white strikes blinding his vision.
He trembled violently as Kyuhyun bit his neck, coming quietly and moaning just what sounded like his name. He felt as though he was torn open as Kyuhyun continued slamming into him, riding off his aftershocks.
That morning when Kyuhyun woke up, he was gone.
He chickened out.
:::
Yes, Kyuhyun was an absolute brat. He was rude at times and you know that filter in your head that tells you the certain words that you shouldn’t say? Yeah, Kyuhyun doesn’t have that.
But Kyuhyun was also kind. He really was. Kyuhyun understood him more than he had claimed. Kyuhyun doesn’t question him why he ran away. Kyuhyun understood even without asking.
He was disgusted with himself because that was the scariest part of Kyuhyun – that he knows him so well; he didn’t even have to say a word.
When he told Kyuhyun he wanted an end, the man didn’t even bat an eyelash. Kyuhyun looked at him, straight in the eye and he knew Kyuhyun knew that he was lying through his teeth. Why?
He didn’t have a heart to push Kyuhyun away as the man took his hand. He stared as their fingers naturally moved, holding each other so delicately. It fitted just right, nothing too excessive. It hurt Sungmin more than it should have.
“What are you trying to do?”
He let his eyes linger a moment longer on their fingers before tearing them away and met Kyuhyun's awaiting ones. “What are you talking about?”
Kyuhyun looked at him; eyes locked on his features without saying anything for a long while. He sighed, loosening his hold on Sungmin's hand just a tad bit and had to force back a smile as Sungmin naturally tightened his hold, unwilling to let go.
“Why do you want this to end?”
Kyuhyun's voice was genuinely curious as he shook their intertwined fingers gently. “I don’t understand why you want this to end, Min.”
He froze, faltered for a moment. “I-”
Even as the full force of reluctance hit him, he clenched his eyes and pulled their hands apart. His hand felt colder, he didn’t want to understand why. He didn’t falter the second time, didn’t let himself think as he stood up.
“I can’t do this.”
“You want this.”
The argument was strong. It was true, so, so true but he didn’t want to accept it and didn’t want to give in. “It isn’t right, Kyu. I’m a man.”
“Whom I love.”
“Don’t do this to me, Kyu.”
Kyuhyun scoffed in disbelief. “You don’t this to me, to us.”
He kept silent.
“Jesus Christ, Min,” Kyuhyun snarled. His eyes refused to meet with Sungmin’s. “The monsters you’re afraid of aren’t around us. It lives in your head.”
Sungmin still didn’t know why he let Kyuhyun walk away.
:::
“You okay, buddy?”
He turned around, faced his brother and smiled a forced smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Sungjin frowned. “You shouldn’t try that on me.”
He let his shoulders slumped and leaned fully on his brother. “Jin, I don’t think I can do it.”
“That’s nonsense,” Sungjin scoffed. “You’ve waited for this day ever since you were four. You wanted to play in the palace since you were that young. And hyung, I was two when you were four! It just tells you how much you annoyingly want this so much that I remember.”
He sighed.
“Hyung,” Sungjin shook his head, looking down at his brother disapprovingly. He hesitated, contemplate whether it was worth saying them now. But as Sungmin’s doe eyes looked up at him, he laid it open. “Don’t do this to yourself. Don’t do this to him either, hyung. Nobody’s going to win this way.”
“Jin…”
“I have never, hyung, never seen you smile that huge before,” Sungjin whispered. “Not once were you that happy, not even when you got your first piano. He makes you happy. You make him happy.”
Sungmin stared. “Jin,” he croaked. He closed his eyes, clamping them shut so tightly that he trembled. “I’m scared. I’m just-”
“You shouldn’t be. I know you, hyung. I know you’ll make it,” Sungjin said. Sungmin didn’t have a heart to disagree with his brother’s confident tone.
“Now go out there and blow them away. Finish them off and go after your man.”
:::
He burst through the door. The occupants inside looked up in shock.
“I’ll leave,” the secretary excused himself, leaving a red file on the desk before fleeing in record time.
Kyuhyun’s eyes looked up and met his lazily, though the tightening hold on the desk didn’t go unnoticed by Sungmin.
He ignored as the door slammed shut behind him. “You didn’t come.”
His eyes were on the young dentist and his tone were accusing. “You wanted me to?” Kyuhyun asked, voice mocking.
He didn’t have an answer for that.
“What are you doing here?”
He could feel it coming; the insecurities, the thought that he wasn’t good enough and Kyuhyun doesn’twant him. Before it all reached its full blow, before he backed out again for the umpteenth time, he said the words.
“I want you.”
He was trembling, willing himself to not bolt out or clench his eyes shut for that matter. Kyuhyun stared at him, looked at him properly, looked at his shaking lips, looked at his rigid figure and looked at his fisted fingers.
He resisted the urge as his lips twitched. “Well, wasn’t that suggestive.”
Sungmin growled. “Kyuhyun, I’m being serious.”
Kyuhyun sighed as he stood up. Sungmin's eyes followed him. Somewhere deep inside, he could feel something bubbling furiously in his stomach. The fear poked him as he stared at Kyuhyun's impassive face. It prickled his eyes, and he suspected that he was going to have a panic attack; because Kyuhyun was giving up, Kyuhyun was no longer fighting – for him, for them.
"K-Kyuhy-”
Kyuhyun spun around, staring at Sungmin curiously. Sungmin was facing him, but he wasn’t looking, wasn’t seeing him. He pushed back the urge to sigh again. “Min, what ar-”
“I was scared,” he cut off, the panic still brewing in him. “I swear I was afraid.”
“What’s there to be afraid of, Min?”
“I don’t kn- I don’t know how to do this,” he confessed. “I don’t know how to do love. As far as I could remember, I only had Jin by me. I want to use that as an excuse, but I know I can’t. Jin's struggling with it too, but he’s so, so much better.”
“I was trying to find myself. Honest to god, Kyu, I don’t know how I ended up finding you instead. I didn’t realize, didn’t know what to do. I want you beside me, all the time, even if you were to just stand beside me, I want you with me. I tried running away. I was confused. Dear god, I tried to run but wherever I go, the roads led me back to you. It was so scary, I co-”
He looked down. He choked, unable to go on. He had laid it all open, had showed everything he had kept hidden to Kyuhyun. It was months past two minutes of their first meeting, but it was his do or die and he waited - waited to die.
He flinched as he heard footsteps padded across to him.
Kyuhyun stood, hovered over him and he gulped. “Why are you crying?” Kyuhyun whispered, voice low and deep, sending a shudder through his every vein. He could only look as Kyuhyun took his clenched hands and untangled them.
“You came back,” Kyuhyun whispered. The man let his hands linger on Sungmin's warm ones. “You pushed me away but you came back. That’s all that matters, right?”
He nodded as vigorously as he could in their position. His eyes fluttered shut as Kyuhyun stroke the cheeks with the pad of his thumbs. He leaned more into the welcoming hand, only opening his eyes as he felt lips grazing his forehead.
His eyes met Kyuhyun’s and with the sunlight blaring in from the window behind him, a sudden wave ofdéjà vu hit him. He gasped.
“You’re the person in the painting.”
“What?”
He stared, probably a moment too long but shook his head in the end. “Nothing,” he whispered, letting out a shaky breath in disbelief. Kyuhyun was his from the start.
“I was there, you know,” Kyuhyun whispered, gaining back his attention. Huh, when did his hand get around me?
He squeaked as Kyuhyun pulled his body closer, their chest touching just for a moment before he wiggled loose. “Y-You were?”
Kyuhyun chuckled. “Yeah, I was hiding at the back,” he confessed. “You were brilliant. You always are.”
He smiled shyly. “Thank you,” he whispered. “For coming.”
“Min, can I kiss you?”
He looked up, eyes wide and startled. He gulped, nodding slowly. When Kyuhyun’s face inched closer, his eyes fluttered shut, and allowed himself to drown in Kyuhyun’s affections.
He knew as soon as their lips met how stupid he was to have tried to push that away. He accepted it then – accepted how it was no longer his world, but their world.
the end.
---the paintings:
it is a metaphor for Sungmin's dreams. Min was having dreams about Kyu from the start. Virgin paintings, unreal strokes = Kyuhyun's face was still blurred and undefined. It was far away. Painting starting to dry = when the dreams continued, Kyu's face started to become more defined (wrinkles of a smile, forehead creases). But before Kyu's face was really painted fully, the dreams stop. That was also when he first met Kyuhyun.
---black and white keyboards
Sungmin is a world class pianist
---at the cafe
no, they weren't dating yet but Kyuhyun abused his authority as the dentist to look through Min's files for personal gain (a.k.a because he find Sungmin attractive)
---Insecurities & Sungjin
it was implied that Min and Jin's parents are not with them. i didn't say whether they were dead or merely abandoned the brothers. they're just not there and Min suffered because of it. that was mainly where Min's insecurities came from.