apple of my eye (I)
Sep. 7th, 2011 07:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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prettyquillsSummary: How Kyuhyun thinks he's hopelessly in love, joins a subgroup and takes advantage of Jonghyun.
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Jonghyun, onesided Kyuhyun/Jino
Genre: romance/slash, drama, some humor/fluff/angst/smut
Rating: R at most
A/N: Ignores the Sekyung issue, if anyone's picky with timelines and canonness. Extremely vague/open ending. Was supposed to be for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
crossover_bbang but it was canceled, so.
AO3 Mirror
Part II
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Jonghyun, onesided Kyuhyun/Jino
Genre: romance/slash, drama, some humor/fluff/angst/smut
Rating: R at most
A/N: Ignores the Sekyung issue, if anyone's picky with timelines and canonness. Extremely vague/open ending. Was supposed to be for
crossover_bbang but it was canceled, so.
AO3 Mirror
It's Friday night and Kyuhyun's in the practice room, going over a few notes to sing. He's confident in his ability, of course, but it never hurts to want to be better.
He hears the door open behind him. Kyuhyun turns around to see one of the assistant's head poking into the room.
"Sunbae wants to see you," the assistant says. "Apparently there's something new going on."
Kyuhyun frowns a little. Something new?
He puts his papers in his bag and follows the assistant out the door. On the way to the other side of the practice building, he sees Ryeowook and Heechul. He gives them a little wave, and then continues down the hall.
It's a bit of a surprise, when he enters the room and sees two familiar faces and an unfamiliar one. He knows Kim Jonghyun from SHINee and Kim Jay from TRAX. But the third boy—a much younger one—is a boy he's never seen before. The boy looks nervous.
"Kyuhyun! So glad you can join us!" says his manager.
"Thanks." Kyuhyun's more confused than ever.
"You'll be in a new subgroup," says his manager. "It's a group focusing mainly on singing and ballads. There's been a lot of issues with this project, but... we've finally decided."
"And..." Kyuhyun glances around the room, where Jonghyun, Jay and the new boy are, watching him. "These are my bandmates?"
His manager nods and smiles.
**
It doesn't take long for them to get acquainted.
"What's your name?" Jonghyun asks the boy immediately. Kyuhyun rolls his eyes and see Jay furrow his eyebrows in disapproval. They don't say anything, though. They want to know too.
"Jino," the boy says, a bit shyly.
"I'm Jonghyun." Jonghyun grabs Jino's hand without abandon and starts shaking it. "And that's Kyuhyun hyung, and Jay hyung."
"I know," says Jino. He's still shy.
"Jonghyun, give him a rest," cuts in Jay, moving between them so that Jonghyun accidentally lets go of Jino's hand. Jay ropes Jino into a conversation and starts talking to him, not making any room for Jonghyun.
Jonghyun grumbles and turns to Kyuhyun. "Nice seeing you here, hyung," he says to him. "I guess we'll be spending more time together, then."
Kyuhyun's never wasted a second thought on Jonghyun. In fact, even though over the past few years since he's known Jonghyun—from predebut, to debut, to concerts together as part of the SM family and then just sharing a spotlight with SHINee in general, he's never paid too much attention to Jonghyun. So the thought that they'll be spending more time together is a bit nice, albeit strange. But sort of nice.
"We will," he agrees with Jonghyun.
"Anyways," Jay says loudly, suddenly. "I think we should practice singing. See our vocal ranges and our strengths, weaknesses and abilities."
"Aw, hyung," Jonghyun whines. "We just met and got together! Don't you think we should, you know, play icebreaker games or something—"
"The reason why I'm saying that we should practice," Jay says, very very patiently, "is because we just met."
"Not now! We shouldn't practice now!" says Jonghyun. He turns to Kyuhyun. "Right, hyung?"
Kyuhyun rounds on him. "What do you mean, 'right, hyung'?"
"You don't think we should practice now, right?"
"Well I'm not really in the mood to, but—"
"See? Kyuhyun agrees with me!" says Jonghyun.
Jay looks at the both of them for a moment. Kyuhyun's half-amused, half-annoyed but doesn't say anything. Finally, Jay gives a resigned sigh.
"Fine," he says.
Jonghyun whoops jovially. "Yes! Now, let's go get dinner together!"
And this evening, Kyuhyun finds himself not eating at the Super Junior dorms, but with three new men in a restaurant down the street.
**
SM the Ballad—the name of their band—practices are exactly what Kyuhyun had expected, after the first day. A lot of singing, a lot of vocal exercising, and a lot of talking.
"I will never," announces Jonghyun, "ever, talk again. For the rest of my life."
"You're talking right now, hyung," says an amused Jino, who, after a few practices, has grown accustomed to their personalities and is developing one of his own. Kyuhyun thinks it's cute.
Jonghyun shoots him a look. "You're letting Kyuhyun grow on you, Jino," he says, and ignores Kyuhyun's indignant shout of, "Hey!"
"Well it's good that we're practicing now, instead of a month later," says Jay. "We debut in November, according to manager hyung."
"And November is years from now," says Jonghyun.
"Hyung, November is in a month."
"See what I mean about letting Kyuhyun grow on you?" says Jonghyun.
"I am not growing on anyone!"
"Please. We hang out for five days and already Jay's talking about gaming and Jino's eating more Chinese food than he can handle. Even I'm considering watching those dramas you go on about."
"That's not my fault, that's yours for letting me influence you," says Kyuhyun.
"No, it's from being around you too much. You give off negative waves." Jonghyun pointedly moves away from Kyuhyun.
"You give off failure waves," says Kyuhyun with a smirk, and walks off ahead of them down the street. Jonghyun goes after him, shouting, "Hey!"
"I swear, you two are like an old married couple!" Jay calls to the both of them.
"They really are," agrees Jino.
**
Kyuhyun likes new things. New games, new computers, new songs. New things to do, new things to watch, new things to read. He likes new experiences and new people.
So of course he's been in subgroups before, but they've always been with Super Junior (plus M) members and he's known them for a bit. China had been nice and a fantastic place with new things to do, and K.R.Y. helped him not only see a different side to music and dramas, but also to his fellow bandmates - but here, being with a SHINee member, a TRAX member and an eighteen-year old trainee is much more different. Much more interesting.
Much more fun.
It's not part of the contract he had signed that they had to spend time outside of practices together, but they do. Sort of like a bonding thing. Kyuhyun's not complaining, because Jino is still adorable, Jonghyun is amusing, and Jay acts like a guardian of some sort though deep down, Kyuhyun knows that he's as entertained as the rest of them.
On one particular day, Jonghyun invites them over to the SHINee dorms, and then kicks the rest of his bandmates out. When Jay insists that he doesn't have to do that - though Jino and Kyuhyun merely exchange an amused glance - Jonghyun says that he does and that he wants to and they can have fun by looking through Jinki hyung's stuff.
Jay gives him that disapproving look again, but says nothing more.
"This is the bedroom?" says Kyuhyun, stepping into the room on the far side of the threshold.
"Yup!" says Jonghyun. "I don't think it's much, though."
"You should make your bandmates move into a different dorm and the four of us could have this one," Kyuhyun says seriously. "And we have one less. That's more space."
"Yeah, but if we do, we'll have to sanitize the bathroom. Kibum has bad habits."
"Ryeowook has worse," says Kyuhyun. They both chuckle at the thought of their respective bandmates.
Jay and Jino come in suddenly. "What are you two doing in here?" Jay asks them.
"Talking." Jonghyun shrugs. "Don't you guys want to look around?"
"I feel uncomfortable doing so," says Jay. "We'll stay with you here."
"All right, but let's go to the living room instead." Jonghyun gets up off the bed from beside Kyuhyun. "It's starting to get a bit stuffy."
**
A few days later, Kyuhyun's lounging around in the Super Junior dorms. Jino has something with the trainees, Jonghyun has something with SHINee, and Jay is apparently "busy." Kyuhyun has no idea what he could possibly be busy with.
He's jerked out of his reverie suddenly when Donghae's face appears before him.
"Hyung," Kyuhyun says, drawing his face back. And when Donghae continues looking at him with a Donghae look—Kyuhyun doesn't know how to describe it, it's just a look—Kyuhyun frowns at him. "What's wrong?"
"You've been spending less time with us," says Donghae baldly.
Kyuhyun raises his eyebrows. "What do you mean? I spend every waking moment doing something with you guys."
But 'spending time together' is a matter of concern because of the speech Jungsu hyung had given them a few weeks ago, Kyuhyun knows. Before he had been told that he was going to be in SM the Ballad, Jungsu hyung gathered them all into this dorm and told them that no matter what, they were still going to be Super Junior and stick together and not forget each other, no matter what happened. Kyuhyun doesn't know if the other members have the same doubts as he does, because what band will really stay together forever? But he's never said anything about it since.
He supposes he shouldn't be that surprised, though, when Donghae tells him, "No you haven't," followed by, "You've been with that new subgroup of yours more often lately."
Kyuhyun's eyebrows fly up even higher. "Jealous?"
"No!" says Donghae. "It's just that—hyung said that we should be with each other, that we should consider each other first. I mean, of course we can have friends from other bands and stuff, but—don't you care about Super Junior?"
Kyuhyun sends him a fierce look, a look that Donghae backs away from. "Of course I care about Super Junior," he all but snarls. "But SM the Ballad is new for me, okay? And we've been practicing and getting to know each other more for the fanservice and getting the right chemistry, so excuse me if I'm working hard on something that may not be Super Junior, but is still a part of me."
Donghae doesn't say anything.
Kyuhyun drops his gaze. "I'm sorry, hyung," he says to Donghae quietly. "But this—is different, all right? For me, and for everyone. I'm just getting adjusted to it."
"The others feel the same way, you know," says Donghae. "About you, not being with us as much over the past week."
"Oh." Kyuhyun stares at him. Has he really been with his new subgroup that much lately?
But Donghae sends him a smile. "It's all right, though," he says. "I understand. Just... don't forget about us, okay? Don't be too happy, without us."
"I won't," Kyuhyun promises.
**
But he does, and he is. Kyuhyun's not quite sure how it ends up being even possible—but suddenly, he realizes that he likes spending more time with these three men than the other nine. And it's sort of tragic, sort of sad because Kyuhyun knows that this isn't where he belongs.
He forgets most of these worries when he's with Jino, Jonghyun and Jay. They make him laugh, and Kyuhyun feels like he hasn't laughed in a long time.
"From the top," says Jay, and they practice their song again. And again. And again. It's actually a song they've been given to actually sing, not just now but in the future.
Kyuhyun manages to hit all the high notes, and laughs when Jonghyun's voice cracks.
"I'm still young, okay," says Jonghyun, and scowls with Kyuhyun laughs even harder.
"I'm younger," says Jino, who's hit all of his notes perfectly.
"I am younger than you in disguise."
"Is that even possible?" wonders Jay.
Kyuhyun snorts. "Of course not. Jonghyun's just too scared to admit that he's not the fabulous singer everyone thought he was."
"I am a fabulous singer! And I can sing this high perfectly fine, thank you very much!" says Jonghyun indignantly. "It was just a fluke!" And just to prove it, he sings his line again—perfectly.
"No, that was a fluke," says Kyuhyun, although he can't deny that Jonghyun does have a very nice voice. He doesn't say anything about it, though.
Jonghyun sticks his tongue out at him. "You're a fluke," he says.
"Can you two stop bickering for one moment so we can get to singing again?" says Jay, exasperated.
**
Kyuhyun finds a new hobby when he's with SM the Ballad: teasing Jino with Jonghyun (while Jay's being the good guardian he is and standing off to the side while Kyuhyun and Jonghyun behave like children. Not like any of them care.)
It is really fun, though, mostly because Jino has soft hair and big eyes and Kyuhyun really like staring at him a lot. Despite not dating, not mentioning having a girlfriend (or boyfriend) for a very long time, he can't help but being drawn to Jino, a little bit.
Jonghyun's teasing just adds fuel to the fire. Jonghyun has this way with words, this way with doing things, this way with being that just sends Jino into little fits of giggles and adorable smiles. It makes Kyuhyun want to tease him even more—and there's nothing wrong with that. Kyuhyun's just like one of those typical boys, you know, making fun of things he likes. He doesn't know about Jonghyun, but he's glad that Jonghyun is helping him.
They're practicing again, except Jonghyun picks at Jino's shirt every now and then and Kyuhyun can't help but get distracted. Soon enough, both he and Jonghyun are plucking at random parts of Jino's jumper, while Jino is squirming and letting out little noises that make Kyuhyun smile.
Jay sighs and puts his music down. "Can you two stop it for once?" he says, looking at Jonghyun and Kyuhyun pointedly.
Kyuhyun and Jonghyun quickly put their hands down in their laps.
"What ever are you talking about?" Jonghyun asks innocently.
Jay sighs, though Kyuhyun can see a hint of a smile on his lips. "I mean, distracting all of us and not concentrating on the music."
"We're concentrating on the music," says Kyuhyun, as innocently as Jonghyun had been.
"Oh really." Jay sends them both looks. "Let's see you two sing the fourth line of this song, then. Perfectly."
Kyuhyun and Jonghyun rush to find the fourth line on their paper, and then they sing. They're both horribly not on tune, not to mention on completely different keys.
"That's what I thought." Jay pats Jino on the back, who looks mildly embarrassed, mildly amused. "Stop harassing poor Jino here and get working."
Kyuhyun stops to stare at Jino's blushing cheeks for a moment, and then Jonghyun gets his attention by poking his leg and saying, "Yeah, let's get working."
**
On another one of their practice days, he's greeted with a surprise. Henry Lau is there, waiting for them in the practice room.
"Hi," says Henry cheerfully, turning to them. "I'm doing a part in one of your songs, right?"
"Yeah," says Kyuhyun. He'd looked at the song listing and information earlier. Henry's supposed to be the rap in the duet with Jonghyun and Jino. Kyuhyun feels jealous of Henry.
"Hi Henry," says Jonghyun. Kyuhyun doesn't know if they've known each other before or not, but he's a bit jealous of the way that Jonghyun approaches Henry with a bit of familiarity.
Then he remembers that predebut, Jonghyun and Henry had shared a dorm together with the other SHINee members and Zhou Mi. Of course they'd know each other pretty well. Still, something in Kyuhyun's stomach clenches. He ignores it.
"Henry, this is Jino. Jino, this is Henry," says Jonghyun happily.
Jino cocks his head to the side, observing Henry. "Is he in your band or something?"
Jonghyun laughs. "Nah, he's in some Super Junior subgroup with Kyuhyun hyung over there." He nods at Kyuhyun. "We're pretty good friends, though."
Jino seems stricken with disbelief that everyone here seems to know each other, so Kyuhyun goes over to him and pats him on the back. Then he lightly flicks a piece of black hair from out of Jino's face.
"You'll get used to it," he tells him.
Jino smiles at Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun likes the way Jino smiles. "Thanks, hyung," says Jino.
Kyuhyun smiles back.
Suddenly, Jonghyun's arm comes out of nowhere and swings over Kyuhyun's shoulders and around his neck. "Let's get to practicing then!" he says cheerfully. Glancing back at Jay, who's watching the whole thing with an air of amusement, he says, "Hyung, stop being old and slow and join us!"
**
Practices soon turn into recording sessions, and instead of going to the practice rooms, SM the Ballad are in the recording studio. Henry's there with them, too. Kyuhyun notices again how Jonghyun and Henry talk so casually and comfortably as if they've been friends forever. He feels a little bit cut out. Even though he's been friends with Henry since 2007—three years already—he's only a bit familiar with Jonghyun. Sure, this whole new subgroup had definitely brought them closer. He only wishes a little bit that he'd been closer to Jonghyun earlier on, too.
But when Jonghyun looks at him, it's with a look Kyuhyun's always seen on him whenever Jonghyun looks at him—like Kyuhyun's an old friend, too. Even though he's not. Kyuhyun wonders what Jonghyun thinks of him.
"All right," calls their manager, and Kyuhyun breaks his gaze away from Jonghyun. He thinks, from the corner of his eye, that he sees Jonghyun still watching him. "Let's start it then."
Henry watches from through the glass window as Hot Times blasts throughout the studio. The four of them sing with passion, striking out their falsettos, throwing in ad libs and hitting those high notes perfectly. By the end of the first song, Kyuhyun's exhausted, though plenty happy.
"Again!" shouts their manager. Kyuhyun wants to throttle him.
"Again?" Jonghyun complains, voicing his thoughts exactly.
"It was great, you guys," says the producer, from fiddling with the tray of knobs and buttons. "But you might want to go a bit slower."
"Slower?" exclaims Jonghyun.
"Yes, slower. Now start again."
Jonghyun sighs heavily. Jay keeps his composure. Jino bites his lip. Kyuhyun stares at them all.
The track plays again. And again, and again, until Kyuhyun's pretty sure he's going to lose his voice for the umpteenth time today.
Finally, what feels like years later, their manager comes in and says, "Good work, you guys. I think that last time went excellently."
Kyuhyun knows it didn't and he rolls his eyes. Jonghyun nudges him in agreement. Even Jay says, "I doubt it, sunbae."
"Oh don't say that," their manager says, grinning. "You could have done a lot worse."
He walks off. Jonghyun stares incredulously after him.
"Yeah, we could have done a lot worse! We could have just not sang at all!"
"Oh, stop whining," says Kyuhyun, rolling his eyes as they walk out of the studio.
Jonghyun turns to him. "You agree with me hyung, and you know it."
Kyuhyun doesn't deny this.
**
Shortly after this, they're to be at a photoshoot for their album. Kyuhyun walks out on set, feeling like he should be used to this after nearly six years even though he isn't.
"Hey, Kyuhyun," Jonghyun says as soon as Kyuhyun approaches him and the rest of them. "You haven't been spending a lot of time with Super Junior, have you?"
Kyuhyun eyes Jonghyun warily. "What are you going on about?"
"I mean, you seem to be around us a lot more."
Kyuhyun briefly wonders if Donghae has died and Jonghyun is channeling his spirit.
"So what?" he asks Jonghyun.
Jonghyun gives him this pitying look, like he cares about every single detail in Kyuhyun's life. "You should come with Heechul hyung and me to dinner today," he says to Kyuhyun casually. "I think Jungsu and Siwon hyung are coming along as well."
"Why are you inviting me?"
Jonghyun shifts from foot to foot. "Well, I just wanted you to come along... and I heard that whole thing about what Jungsu hyung said to you guys."
Kyuhyun's not too surprised. Half of their friends probably know by now, even though Kyuhyun hadn't witnessed anyone telling anyone else.
"And I thought you might appreciate it. Or they might." Jonghyun shrugs.
His cheeks are slightly dark, though. Kyuhyun briefly wonders what this means.
"Sure," he says.
Jonghyun brightens. "Great! I'll tell Heechul hyung you're coming along then!" He dives for his cellphone in his pocket.
The photoshoot starts once Jino comes back from the bathroom—apparently he had gotten lost for a few moments. Kyuhyun's glad to see that he stands next to Jino a lot in many of the pictures, although he notices that he stands next to Jonghyun as well. He gets slightly distracted when Jonghyun's around—questions about the dinner and just Jonghyun's strange behavior in general on the tip of his tongue.
Jonghyun gives him plenty of attention, though as usual he pokes and bothers Jino. Jino doesn't mind and play along. Kyuhyun joins the two with a twinge of jealousy, though the jealousy part comes as a shock to him.
Jay, as always, is just watching and grinning at the three of them.
**
Dinner that night is a bit odd, especially since Kyuhyun's pretty close with Jonghyun now and he's always been close with his three other hyungs, of course; but having four Super Junior members together plus Jonghyun is just a bit awkward. Kyuhyun sees how close Jonghyun is with his bandmates and vows to get closer with the other SHINee members. Just because.
Jonghyun smiles at him and sits next to him and drinks a bit too much wine. Kyuhyun notices how his cheeks are pink whenever Jonghyun presses up against his side.
**
"Our album's being postponed?" Jonghyun asks incredulously. "But why?"
"Because," says Jay, who had come bearing this news to them, very patiently. "There's actually a multitude of reasons, but we also need to finish the photoshoot and finish recording the songs. And there's also the music video."
"Music video?" says Jino eagerly.
Jay regards him with a fatherly smile. "Yeah. For Hot Times and Miss You."
"Then when's the album supposed to come out now?" interrupts Jonghyun.
"November twenty-ninth," Jay answers.
"That's like a month from now!"
"Twenty-eight days," Kyuhyun corrects.
Jonghyun shoots him a look. "Twenty-eight days. Whatever. That's still nearly a month."
"But our debut is right before that," continues Jay, like this whole conversation hadn't happened. "On Inkigayo. We'll be performing Miss You."
"When are the music videos coming out?" asks Jino.
"Some time during late November and early December. So we'll be really busy." Jay glances between Kyuhyun and Jonghyun. "They won't intervene with your other schedules for Super Junior and SHINee, right?"
Kyuhyun scoffs, "What schedules?" the same time Jonghyun says, "Nah."
They grin at each other.
**
"Wow," says Kyuhyun, glancing down their schedule. "We have so many photoshoots."
"Yeah. Two." Jonghyun snorts. "That's a lot."
"Shut up, you." Kyuhyun whacks him on the head.
Jino, beside them, lets out a little giggle. Kyuhyun throws him a smile.
"Well we have our other official one today, and the Nylon one next week." Jonghyun moves a little to the side. "Or is it the week after that? I can't tell."
"The week after that," says Kyuhyun, rolling his eyes. "Learn how to read."
"Learn how to be nice."
"You two should learn how to shut up," says Jay, coming up from behind them and looking too amused for his own good.
"So we're recording for the Missing You music video today?" says Jonghyun, looking over Kyuhyun's shoulder again. "What are we going to do? Stand around and sing?"
"Actually, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what we're going to be doing," says Jay, looking up thoughtfully. "The director said that there's going to be a storyline that we won't play a part in."
"Then what's the point of actually having us?" says Jonghyun.
"For singing, of course. They want our beautiful voices," says Kyuhyun.
"My beautiful voice."
"Actually, mine."
"I think Jay hyung's voice is the best," chimes in Jino.
Kyuhyun and Jonghyun glance back to him. Jay pats Jino on the head. "Thanks kid," he says to him.
Jino beams. Kyuhyun feels embarrassingly infatuated.
**
So the recording and photoshoots go as planned. Soon enough it's November twenty-eighth, the day of their debut.
The four of them are backstage. Jay's talking with members from other bands like they're old friends, probably because they are. Kyuhyun would be doing the same, except he feels a little bad for Jino because Jino's new, so he doesn't. Jonghyun joins him.
Some members from some girl bands come up to Jino and speak to him. They giggle when they walk away. Kyuhyun glances back at them suspiciously.
"Are you allowed to date?" he inquires Jino, and then nearly hits himself for sounding as blunt as Jonghyun usually is.
Jino blushes immediately. "I don't know," he mumbles. "The contract didn't say anything about it. But I don't think any of those girls would go for me."
Kyuhyun rolls his eyes. "Sure. And they'd go for Jonghyun. Right."
"Hey! Girls go for me!" says Jonghyun indignantly.
"Maybe on some other planet," says Kyuhyun, glancing at him disinterestedly.
"Yeah, well on all planets, more girls go for me than they go for you!"
"You wish—" starts Kyuhyun, but before he can say anymore, Jay runs up to them and puts a finger to his mouth and tells them, "We're up next!"
**
They perform flawlessly (at least, in Kyuhyun's opinion), and after glancing at the schedule, Kyuhyun hopes they can keep it up for the next few weeks. They'll be on Music Bank, Music Core and Inkigayo for about the next month. Not to mention the endless number of radio shows that they've been invited to.
The first music video gets decent reception, and the Hot Times gets even more. Kyuhyun knows that he looks good in it. So do the rest of them.
The day their second music video comes out, Kyuhyun, Jonghyun and Jino have been invited to Starry Night radio. Jay can't come, because apparently he's busy again.
After the broadcast and saying good-bye to Park Kyung Lim, they walk out of the building and into the cool autumn air. And that's when Jonghyun says to the both of them, "You know, we should get lunch together."
"Well weren't we about to?" asks Jino. "We're going to the practice building, aren't we?"
"I mean, get lunch out," says Jonghyun. "Around here. Somewhere."
Jino shrugs and turns to Kyuhyun. "What do you think, hyung?"
Kyuhyun's a bit flattered that Jino's looking out for his opinion. "Seems like a good idea," he says, doing his best to keep his voice light.
Jonghyun brightens. "Awesome! Let's go find a place!"
He grabs Kyuhyun's hand and tears down the street. It takes an extra second for Kyuhyun to even think about holding Jino's hand, but by this time, Jino's already too far behind them, laughing in the distance.
**
Eye surgery can be such a bitch. Kyuhyun put sunglasses on and wears a large coat. Just because he can. And because Hyukjae hyung had said that he should.
At Sukira open broadcast - and after this, they have Youngstreet, and then the day after, Shimshimtampa [who runs it??] (Kyuhyun privately knows that they've been assigned to do radio shows involving Super Junior members because Jungsu, again, waits them to be together. Not that Kyuhyun's opposed, but he really is quite happy with just being a part of SM the Ballad) - Jino's asked which hyung he likes better: Kyuhyun or Jonghyun.
Jino laughs and Kyuhyun hopes, a little, that he'll say, "Kyuhyun hyung!" But he doesn't and looks too contemplative, and Kyuhyun's a little bit scared.
"Jay hyung!" the audience yells out.
Jino nods and laughs again, into the microphone. "Yes, Jay hyung," he agrees.
**
Kyuhyun gets a call from Jonghyun, saying that he wants to see him in their usual practice room. Kyuhyun agrees and goes there, half-expecting the rest of the SM the Ballad members to be inside as well.
What he doesn't expect is for Jonghyun to be standing there, alone, looking a little bit lost in the slightly dark room. Kyuhyun immediately worries.
"Jonghyun?" he calls softly.
Jonghyun looks up immediately at the sound of his voice. "Oh, hi Kyuhyun," he says. He sounds half-relieved, half-scared. He twists his fingers together.
Kyuhyun frowns and walks toward him. "What's wrong?" he asks him.
Jonghyun doesn't answer. Which is odd, because Jonghyun's never quiet. Not if he can help it.
"What's wrong?" Kyuhyun repeats, wishing he was better at this whole caring thing.
And that's when Jonghyun brings his head up and looks at him. And Kyuhyun's not quite sure what happens in that moment, because no one has ever looked at him like that before—and then suddenly, Jonghyun brings his face in and kisses Kyuhyun right on the lips.
Kyuhyun freezes. Jonghyun holds his face in his hand for the briefest of moments, their lips still touching. Then Jonghyun lets go, although he doesn't move back.
Kyuhyun hesitates, and then slowly works his lips against Jonghyun's. Jonghyun lets out a noise that sounds surprised, maybe even eager. He presses to Kyuhyun, again. A question.
So Kyuhyun lets himself get lost in the sensation of Jonghyun kissing him, because it's not like anything he's ever expected before, and it's new, sure—but Kyuhyun's always liked new things.
**
Jonghyun's happier nowadays and Kyuhyun's glad. No one else knows what's going on between them—stolen kisses in dark practice rooms, wandering hands at night—but it's all in good fun, Kyuhyun thinks. A great way to let his hormones out.
And because it's a great way to let his hormones out, he can't stop staring at Jino even more than usual. Maybe it's because with everything Jonghyun's giving him, Kyuhyun just wants more—and he wants more of Jonghyun, even though he's pining for Jino, and he tells himself that everything he does with Jonghyun is fueled by Jino.
Jay looks like he might know something, but doesn't say anything.
On one of the days in a dark practice room—there are a lot, and Kyuhyun doesn't know if they've used this one before—Jonghyun's lovely fingers are tangled into Kyuhyun's hair while Kyuhyun's leaning down, kissing him. His tongue snakes through Jonghyun's lips and Jonghyun responds eagerly, rolling his hips against Kyuhyun's. It takes all of Kyuhyun to suppress a groan.
"I've really wanted," says Jonghyun breathlessly when he pulls away, and Kyuhyun kisses him again to shut him up. This is not a time for speaking.
Jonghyun breaks away and looks at Kyuhyun in the eye. "This for a while," he finishes, smiling at Kyuhyun slightly.
Kyuhyun nods and doesn't know what to say. "Right," he murmurs, and bends his head down to kiss Jonghyun's jaw.
Jonghyun gasps and lets his body fall into Kyuhyun's. This time, Kyuhyun actually groans out loud. "What about you?" Jonghyun manages to say, while Kyuhyun continues to place kisses all over his skin.
"What about me?" Kyuhyun moves down to Jonghyun's throat.
"About... this... ah." Jonghyun giggles when the side of Kyuhyun's head nudges his neck, hair brushing against him. "That tickles."
Kyuhyun hums and doesn't say anything, even though Jonghyun's words run through his brain. He runs his teeth along Jonghyun's collarbone, letting the question remain forgotten in the air.
**
They manage to sneak by during the day as well, though they have to be more cautious than necessary. Jonghyun tells Kyuhyun that he thinks it's inconvenient, but Kyuhyun sort of likes the thrill of almost getting caught.
"Besides," he says, his hot breath on the side of Jonghyun's face. "You like challenges, don't you?"
Jonghyun lets out something that sounds like a growl; it's hard to tell, because the sound quickly turns into a whine as Kyuhyun runs his fingers down Jonghyun's body. He can feel himself getting harder. Jonghyun, too.
It's completely unprofessional, how they go about releasing their hormones, Kyuhyun knows—the other Super Junior members just do it in the shower, or in their beds when they don't think the others don't know (even though everyone knows.) But Kyuhyun has someone this time, and sure it's a man and he'll be in a load of trouble, but both he and Jonghyun are enjoying this, aren't they? And that's what's important: Kyuhyun just wants someone to use as an outlet, and Jonghyun just wants him.
Jonghyun gets off within seconds after Kyuhyun strokes him, and then Jonghyun reaches down to do the same. When they're done, Jonghyun collapses onto him, the front of his body slung all over Kyuhyun's torso.
Kyuhyun's legs buckle and he falls to the ground against the practice room wall. "Get off me," he grumbles, shoving Jonghyun off.
Jonghyun hops away and faces Kyuhyun, smiling. "Don't be so aggressive," he says, almost teasingly.
Kyuhyun can't help being faintly amused at Jonghyun's words. "I'm aggressive?" he says. "You're more aggressive than me."
"Not true," says Jonghyun, sticking his tongue out.
Kyuhyun laughs and tickles Jonghyun, and pointedly moves away when Jonghyun leans over to do the same.
**
"I'm starving," says Jonghyun when the food arrives. Across from him, Jino giggles. Next to Jino, Kyuhyun is looking around the restaurant.
"You're always hungry," he says without looking at Jonghyun.
"Hey! That's not true," says Jonghyun through a mouthful of beans. He swallows. "And you it loads more than me."
Kyuhyun doesn't say anything to this, knowing it's true, although he feels a bit humiliated when Jino says, "You really do, hyung."
"Hmph." Kyuhyun shoots a glance in Jonghyun's direction. "At least I don't make it obvious."
"You make other things obvious," says Jonghyun, nudging Kyuhyun's foot under the table.
Kyuhyun pretends he doesn't feel it, for the sake of Jino. In fact, he turns away from Jonghyun completely to give all his attention to Jino.
"So," Kyuhyun says to him, "that girl who flirted with you was pretty, wasn't she?"
Jino quickly turns away, though it's obvious that his cheeks are bright pink. "Um, I guess," he says. "She really was flirting, wasn't she?"
"Who was flirting with Jino?" Jonghyun asks curiously, looking between the two of them. Kyuhyun can see that Jonghyun's eyes are flickering towards him more often.
"On the way here, weren't you paying attention?" says Kyuhyun, half-exasperatedly. "A girl on the street, though she didn't seem to recognize Jino or anything. Probably just thought he was cute, though."
"Well he is cute," says Jonghyun teasingly, and Jino blushes even more. Kyuhyun feels a twinge of irritation.
"All that aside," he says, turning to Jino again. "Maybe you should date her," he tells Jino.
"She didn't give me a number," mumbles Jino, his face still pink.
"But you are allowed to date?" Kyuhyun raises his eyebrows.
Jino shrugs. Kyuhyun takes this as a yes, and opens up his mouth to say more—but at that moment, their food arrives and Kyuhyun decides not to press the matter.
Besides, Jonghyun kicks him under the table again and this time, Kyuhyun can't help but smile.
**
It's when the ecstasy has gone away and Kyuhyun and Jonghyun are just sitting in the restroom, not saying anything to each other—though Jonghyun occasionally shoots Kyuhyun glances—the door suddenly opens and someone from the stage comes in.
They jump up instinctively. Kyuhyun realizes that they're both clothed now, and lets out a sigh of relief.
"SM the Ballad's on soon," says the stage member, peering at them curiously. "What are you two doing in here?"
"Er—we're both just tired," replies Kyuhyun. Though this much is true: they both are tired. From certain things.
"Well try not to show it when you go on stage," the stage member tells them, and then leaves the room.
Kyuhyun goes out after her, and hears Jonghyun following him. Jonghyun doesn't say anything, although his arm brushes against Kyuhyun's. It sends warm tingles all over his skin.
They meet up with Jino and Jay, who are standing right out backstage, waiting to go on. Jino nearly jumps at the sight of them.
"Hyung! Where were you guys?" Kyuhyun is pleased to see that Jino runs to him first. He glances at Jonghyun for his reaction.
But Jonghyun doesn't even seem to care about Jino. He keeps sending Kyuhyun fleeting glances.
Kyuhyun turns back to Jino. "We were in the restroom," he says, doing his best to sound warm although all he can think about is what exactly he and Jonghyun had been doing in the restroom. He mentally shakes the thoughts out of his mind.
"And we got lost," cuts in Jonghyun.
"Oh." Jino frowns for a moment at Jonghyun, and then brightens up. "Okay! You guys ready for tonight!"
"We're ready," says Kyuhyun, beaming at him.
He notices that Jonghyun doesn't say anything to this.
**
Kyuhyun would really like to give Jino more attention, but Jonghyun latches onto him like a little puppy and Kyuhyun can't shake him off. Kyuhyun would like to shake him off, and he probably could; it's just that when he looks back at Jonghyun and thinks of him, Jonghyun's just someone he doesn't want to let go of.
Jonghyun practically smothers him in hugs during one of their concerts. Kyuhyun doesn't mind too much.
"Really, hyung," says Jino amusedly when they're in the dressing room again. "I thought Kyuhyun hyung was going to fall because you were hugging him too hard."
Jonghyun smiles at Jino, which is strange because if Kyuhyun didn't know better, he would have thought that Jonghyun had been acting cold to Jino for the past few weeks or so. Kyuhyun doesn't know what Jino had done wrong, though. He had been thinking of asking Jonghyun what was up.
And he thinks he should talk about Jino with Jonghyun again when Jonghyun says, "Well only I can hug Kyuhyun like that and get away with it." It sounds like Jonghyun is implying something else.
So Kyuhyun steps in. "You cannot," he says with a scoff. "I let plenty of other people nearly strangle me to death like that." In hindsight, his sentence doesn't make much sense.
Jonghyun turns to him, still amused. "Oh really," he says. "Like who?"
"Like plenty of my hyungs," says Kyuhyun. "And probably Jino here." He nods toward Jino.
Jino laughs. "Sure, hyung. Maybe I should try to see if it's true."
Kyuhyun would like that, and doesn't even think about looking at Jonghyun's face at these words—but before any of them can do or say anything more, Jay suddenly pops his head in.
"Hurry up, guys, or we're going to be late for dinner!"
**
It's their own free time, which is a relief and slightly strange, since they rarely have any free time. Kyuhyun would like to be with Jino, or his Super Junior members, or be playing video games, watching dramas or doing something of that sort. But he's a bit busy doing something else.
"You," says Kyuhyun against Jonghyun's neck, "are completely useless."
"I appreciate your kind words," Jonghyun murmurs, craning his neck some more for Kyuhyun to get better access. Kyuhyun rolls his eyes, but licks at the skin, relishing in Jonghyun's taste.
"Really, I have to do all the work around here," says Kyuhyun without venom, his fingers working on the waistband of Jonghyun's trousers. "And show you a good time."
"Because you like having control, remember?" gasps Jonghyun as Kyuhyun's hand plays about around the front of his crotch.
Kyuhyun hums. "I suppose this is true," he says, taking in one of Jonghyun's earlobes with his teeth and lightly biting on it. Jonghyun gasps again, his hands forcing themselves into Kyuhyun's hair.
"You really have no self-control, do you?" says Kyuhyun amusedly, his fingers toying with Jonghyun's erection.
"Neither do you," mutters Jonghyun as Kyuhyun goes down on his knees.
**
He hears the door open behind him. Kyuhyun turns around to see one of the assistant's head poking into the room.
"Sunbae wants to see you," the assistant says. "Apparently there's something new going on."
Kyuhyun frowns a little. Something new?
He puts his papers in his bag and follows the assistant out the door. On the way to the other side of the practice building, he sees Ryeowook and Heechul. He gives them a little wave, and then continues down the hall.
It's a bit of a surprise, when he enters the room and sees two familiar faces and an unfamiliar one. He knows Kim Jonghyun from SHINee and Kim Jay from TRAX. But the third boy—a much younger one—is a boy he's never seen before. The boy looks nervous.
"Kyuhyun! So glad you can join us!" says his manager.
"Thanks." Kyuhyun's more confused than ever.
"You'll be in a new subgroup," says his manager. "It's a group focusing mainly on singing and ballads. There's been a lot of issues with this project, but... we've finally decided."
"And..." Kyuhyun glances around the room, where Jonghyun, Jay and the new boy are, watching him. "These are my bandmates?"
His manager nods and smiles.
**
It doesn't take long for them to get acquainted.
"What's your name?" Jonghyun asks the boy immediately. Kyuhyun rolls his eyes and see Jay furrow his eyebrows in disapproval. They don't say anything, though. They want to know too.
"Jino," the boy says, a bit shyly.
"I'm Jonghyun." Jonghyun grabs Jino's hand without abandon and starts shaking it. "And that's Kyuhyun hyung, and Jay hyung."
"I know," says Jino. He's still shy.
"Jonghyun, give him a rest," cuts in Jay, moving between them so that Jonghyun accidentally lets go of Jino's hand. Jay ropes Jino into a conversation and starts talking to him, not making any room for Jonghyun.
Jonghyun grumbles and turns to Kyuhyun. "Nice seeing you here, hyung," he says to him. "I guess we'll be spending more time together, then."
Kyuhyun's never wasted a second thought on Jonghyun. In fact, even though over the past few years since he's known Jonghyun—from predebut, to debut, to concerts together as part of the SM family and then just sharing a spotlight with SHINee in general, he's never paid too much attention to Jonghyun. So the thought that they'll be spending more time together is a bit nice, albeit strange. But sort of nice.
"We will," he agrees with Jonghyun.
"Anyways," Jay says loudly, suddenly. "I think we should practice singing. See our vocal ranges and our strengths, weaknesses and abilities."
"Aw, hyung," Jonghyun whines. "We just met and got together! Don't you think we should, you know, play icebreaker games or something—"
"The reason why I'm saying that we should practice," Jay says, very very patiently, "is because we just met."
"Not now! We shouldn't practice now!" says Jonghyun. He turns to Kyuhyun. "Right, hyung?"
Kyuhyun rounds on him. "What do you mean, 'right, hyung'?"
"You don't think we should practice now, right?"
"Well I'm not really in the mood to, but—"
"See? Kyuhyun agrees with me!" says Jonghyun.
Jay looks at the both of them for a moment. Kyuhyun's half-amused, half-annoyed but doesn't say anything. Finally, Jay gives a resigned sigh.
"Fine," he says.
Jonghyun whoops jovially. "Yes! Now, let's go get dinner together!"
And this evening, Kyuhyun finds himself not eating at the Super Junior dorms, but with three new men in a restaurant down the street.
**
SM the Ballad—the name of their band—practices are exactly what Kyuhyun had expected, after the first day. A lot of singing, a lot of vocal exercising, and a lot of talking.
"I will never," announces Jonghyun, "ever, talk again. For the rest of my life."
"You're talking right now, hyung," says an amused Jino, who, after a few practices, has grown accustomed to their personalities and is developing one of his own. Kyuhyun thinks it's cute.
Jonghyun shoots him a look. "You're letting Kyuhyun grow on you, Jino," he says, and ignores Kyuhyun's indignant shout of, "Hey!"
"Well it's good that we're practicing now, instead of a month later," says Jay. "We debut in November, according to manager hyung."
"And November is years from now," says Jonghyun.
"Hyung, November is in a month."
"See what I mean about letting Kyuhyun grow on you?" says Jonghyun.
"I am not growing on anyone!"
"Please. We hang out for five days and already Jay's talking about gaming and Jino's eating more Chinese food than he can handle. Even I'm considering watching those dramas you go on about."
"That's not my fault, that's yours for letting me influence you," says Kyuhyun.
"No, it's from being around you too much. You give off negative waves." Jonghyun pointedly moves away from Kyuhyun.
"You give off failure waves," says Kyuhyun with a smirk, and walks off ahead of them down the street. Jonghyun goes after him, shouting, "Hey!"
"I swear, you two are like an old married couple!" Jay calls to the both of them.
"They really are," agrees Jino.
**
Kyuhyun likes new things. New games, new computers, new songs. New things to do, new things to watch, new things to read. He likes new experiences and new people.
So of course he's been in subgroups before, but they've always been with Super Junior (plus M) members and he's known them for a bit. China had been nice and a fantastic place with new things to do, and K.R.Y. helped him not only see a different side to music and dramas, but also to his fellow bandmates - but here, being with a SHINee member, a TRAX member and an eighteen-year old trainee is much more different. Much more interesting.
Much more fun.
It's not part of the contract he had signed that they had to spend time outside of practices together, but they do. Sort of like a bonding thing. Kyuhyun's not complaining, because Jino is still adorable, Jonghyun is amusing, and Jay acts like a guardian of some sort though deep down, Kyuhyun knows that he's as entertained as the rest of them.
On one particular day, Jonghyun invites them over to the SHINee dorms, and then kicks the rest of his bandmates out. When Jay insists that he doesn't have to do that - though Jino and Kyuhyun merely exchange an amused glance - Jonghyun says that he does and that he wants to and they can have fun by looking through Jinki hyung's stuff.
Jay gives him that disapproving look again, but says nothing more.
"This is the bedroom?" says Kyuhyun, stepping into the room on the far side of the threshold.
"Yup!" says Jonghyun. "I don't think it's much, though."
"You should make your bandmates move into a different dorm and the four of us could have this one," Kyuhyun says seriously. "And we have one less. That's more space."
"Yeah, but if we do, we'll have to sanitize the bathroom. Kibum has bad habits."
"Ryeowook has worse," says Kyuhyun. They both chuckle at the thought of their respective bandmates.
Jay and Jino come in suddenly. "What are you two doing in here?" Jay asks them.
"Talking." Jonghyun shrugs. "Don't you guys want to look around?"
"I feel uncomfortable doing so," says Jay. "We'll stay with you here."
"All right, but let's go to the living room instead." Jonghyun gets up off the bed from beside Kyuhyun. "It's starting to get a bit stuffy."
**
A few days later, Kyuhyun's lounging around in the Super Junior dorms. Jino has something with the trainees, Jonghyun has something with SHINee, and Jay is apparently "busy." Kyuhyun has no idea what he could possibly be busy with.
He's jerked out of his reverie suddenly when Donghae's face appears before him.
"Hyung," Kyuhyun says, drawing his face back. And when Donghae continues looking at him with a Donghae look—Kyuhyun doesn't know how to describe it, it's just a look—Kyuhyun frowns at him. "What's wrong?"
"You've been spending less time with us," says Donghae baldly.
Kyuhyun raises his eyebrows. "What do you mean? I spend every waking moment doing something with you guys."
But 'spending time together' is a matter of concern because of the speech Jungsu hyung had given them a few weeks ago, Kyuhyun knows. Before he had been told that he was going to be in SM the Ballad, Jungsu hyung gathered them all into this dorm and told them that no matter what, they were still going to be Super Junior and stick together and not forget each other, no matter what happened. Kyuhyun doesn't know if the other members have the same doubts as he does, because what band will really stay together forever? But he's never said anything about it since.
He supposes he shouldn't be that surprised, though, when Donghae tells him, "No you haven't," followed by, "You've been with that new subgroup of yours more often lately."
Kyuhyun's eyebrows fly up even higher. "Jealous?"
"No!" says Donghae. "It's just that—hyung said that we should be with each other, that we should consider each other first. I mean, of course we can have friends from other bands and stuff, but—don't you care about Super Junior?"
Kyuhyun sends him a fierce look, a look that Donghae backs away from. "Of course I care about Super Junior," he all but snarls. "But SM the Ballad is new for me, okay? And we've been practicing and getting to know each other more for the fanservice and getting the right chemistry, so excuse me if I'm working hard on something that may not be Super Junior, but is still a part of me."
Donghae doesn't say anything.
Kyuhyun drops his gaze. "I'm sorry, hyung," he says to Donghae quietly. "But this—is different, all right? For me, and for everyone. I'm just getting adjusted to it."
"The others feel the same way, you know," says Donghae. "About you, not being with us as much over the past week."
"Oh." Kyuhyun stares at him. Has he really been with his new subgroup that much lately?
But Donghae sends him a smile. "It's all right, though," he says. "I understand. Just... don't forget about us, okay? Don't be too happy, without us."
"I won't," Kyuhyun promises.
**
But he does, and he is. Kyuhyun's not quite sure how it ends up being even possible—but suddenly, he realizes that he likes spending more time with these three men than the other nine. And it's sort of tragic, sort of sad because Kyuhyun knows that this isn't where he belongs.
He forgets most of these worries when he's with Jino, Jonghyun and Jay. They make him laugh, and Kyuhyun feels like he hasn't laughed in a long time.
"From the top," says Jay, and they practice their song again. And again. And again. It's actually a song they've been given to actually sing, not just now but in the future.
Kyuhyun manages to hit all the high notes, and laughs when Jonghyun's voice cracks.
"I'm still young, okay," says Jonghyun, and scowls with Kyuhyun laughs even harder.
"I'm younger," says Jino, who's hit all of his notes perfectly.
"I am younger than you in disguise."
"Is that even possible?" wonders Jay.
Kyuhyun snorts. "Of course not. Jonghyun's just too scared to admit that he's not the fabulous singer everyone thought he was."
"I am a fabulous singer! And I can sing this high perfectly fine, thank you very much!" says Jonghyun indignantly. "It was just a fluke!" And just to prove it, he sings his line again—perfectly.
"No, that was a fluke," says Kyuhyun, although he can't deny that Jonghyun does have a very nice voice. He doesn't say anything about it, though.
Jonghyun sticks his tongue out at him. "You're a fluke," he says.
"Can you two stop bickering for one moment so we can get to singing again?" says Jay, exasperated.
**
Kyuhyun finds a new hobby when he's with SM the Ballad: teasing Jino with Jonghyun (while Jay's being the good guardian he is and standing off to the side while Kyuhyun and Jonghyun behave like children. Not like any of them care.)
It is really fun, though, mostly because Jino has soft hair and big eyes and Kyuhyun really like staring at him a lot. Despite not dating, not mentioning having a girlfriend (or boyfriend) for a very long time, he can't help but being drawn to Jino, a little bit.
Jonghyun's teasing just adds fuel to the fire. Jonghyun has this way with words, this way with doing things, this way with being that just sends Jino into little fits of giggles and adorable smiles. It makes Kyuhyun want to tease him even more—and there's nothing wrong with that. Kyuhyun's just like one of those typical boys, you know, making fun of things he likes. He doesn't know about Jonghyun, but he's glad that Jonghyun is helping him.
They're practicing again, except Jonghyun picks at Jino's shirt every now and then and Kyuhyun can't help but get distracted. Soon enough, both he and Jonghyun are plucking at random parts of Jino's jumper, while Jino is squirming and letting out little noises that make Kyuhyun smile.
Jay sighs and puts his music down. "Can you two stop it for once?" he says, looking at Jonghyun and Kyuhyun pointedly.
Kyuhyun and Jonghyun quickly put their hands down in their laps.
"What ever are you talking about?" Jonghyun asks innocently.
Jay sighs, though Kyuhyun can see a hint of a smile on his lips. "I mean, distracting all of us and not concentrating on the music."
"We're concentrating on the music," says Kyuhyun, as innocently as Jonghyun had been.
"Oh really." Jay sends them both looks. "Let's see you two sing the fourth line of this song, then. Perfectly."
Kyuhyun and Jonghyun rush to find the fourth line on their paper, and then they sing. They're both horribly not on tune, not to mention on completely different keys.
"That's what I thought." Jay pats Jino on the back, who looks mildly embarrassed, mildly amused. "Stop harassing poor Jino here and get working."
Kyuhyun stops to stare at Jino's blushing cheeks for a moment, and then Jonghyun gets his attention by poking his leg and saying, "Yeah, let's get working."
**
On another one of their practice days, he's greeted with a surprise. Henry Lau is there, waiting for them in the practice room.
"Hi," says Henry cheerfully, turning to them. "I'm doing a part in one of your songs, right?"
"Yeah," says Kyuhyun. He'd looked at the song listing and information earlier. Henry's supposed to be the rap in the duet with Jonghyun and Jino. Kyuhyun feels jealous of Henry.
"Hi Henry," says Jonghyun. Kyuhyun doesn't know if they've known each other before or not, but he's a bit jealous of the way that Jonghyun approaches Henry with a bit of familiarity.
Then he remembers that predebut, Jonghyun and Henry had shared a dorm together with the other SHINee members and Zhou Mi. Of course they'd know each other pretty well. Still, something in Kyuhyun's stomach clenches. He ignores it.
"Henry, this is Jino. Jino, this is Henry," says Jonghyun happily.
Jino cocks his head to the side, observing Henry. "Is he in your band or something?"
Jonghyun laughs. "Nah, he's in some Super Junior subgroup with Kyuhyun hyung over there." He nods at Kyuhyun. "We're pretty good friends, though."
Jino seems stricken with disbelief that everyone here seems to know each other, so Kyuhyun goes over to him and pats him on the back. Then he lightly flicks a piece of black hair from out of Jino's face.
"You'll get used to it," he tells him.
Jino smiles at Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun likes the way Jino smiles. "Thanks, hyung," says Jino.
Kyuhyun smiles back.
Suddenly, Jonghyun's arm comes out of nowhere and swings over Kyuhyun's shoulders and around his neck. "Let's get to practicing then!" he says cheerfully. Glancing back at Jay, who's watching the whole thing with an air of amusement, he says, "Hyung, stop being old and slow and join us!"
**
Practices soon turn into recording sessions, and instead of going to the practice rooms, SM the Ballad are in the recording studio. Henry's there with them, too. Kyuhyun notices again how Jonghyun and Henry talk so casually and comfortably as if they've been friends forever. He feels a little bit cut out. Even though he's been friends with Henry since 2007—three years already—he's only a bit familiar with Jonghyun. Sure, this whole new subgroup had definitely brought them closer. He only wishes a little bit that he'd been closer to Jonghyun earlier on, too.
But when Jonghyun looks at him, it's with a look Kyuhyun's always seen on him whenever Jonghyun looks at him—like Kyuhyun's an old friend, too. Even though he's not. Kyuhyun wonders what Jonghyun thinks of him.
"All right," calls their manager, and Kyuhyun breaks his gaze away from Jonghyun. He thinks, from the corner of his eye, that he sees Jonghyun still watching him. "Let's start it then."
Henry watches from through the glass window as Hot Times blasts throughout the studio. The four of them sing with passion, striking out their falsettos, throwing in ad libs and hitting those high notes perfectly. By the end of the first song, Kyuhyun's exhausted, though plenty happy.
"Again!" shouts their manager. Kyuhyun wants to throttle him.
"Again?" Jonghyun complains, voicing his thoughts exactly.
"It was great, you guys," says the producer, from fiddling with the tray of knobs and buttons. "But you might want to go a bit slower."
"Slower?" exclaims Jonghyun.
"Yes, slower. Now start again."
Jonghyun sighs heavily. Jay keeps his composure. Jino bites his lip. Kyuhyun stares at them all.
The track plays again. And again, and again, until Kyuhyun's pretty sure he's going to lose his voice for the umpteenth time today.
Finally, what feels like years later, their manager comes in and says, "Good work, you guys. I think that last time went excellently."
Kyuhyun knows it didn't and he rolls his eyes. Jonghyun nudges him in agreement. Even Jay says, "I doubt it, sunbae."
"Oh don't say that," their manager says, grinning. "You could have done a lot worse."
He walks off. Jonghyun stares incredulously after him.
"Yeah, we could have done a lot worse! We could have just not sang at all!"
"Oh, stop whining," says Kyuhyun, rolling his eyes as they walk out of the studio.
Jonghyun turns to him. "You agree with me hyung, and you know it."
Kyuhyun doesn't deny this.
**
Shortly after this, they're to be at a photoshoot for their album. Kyuhyun walks out on set, feeling like he should be used to this after nearly six years even though he isn't.
"Hey, Kyuhyun," Jonghyun says as soon as Kyuhyun approaches him and the rest of them. "You haven't been spending a lot of time with Super Junior, have you?"
Kyuhyun eyes Jonghyun warily. "What are you going on about?"
"I mean, you seem to be around us a lot more."
Kyuhyun briefly wonders if Donghae has died and Jonghyun is channeling his spirit.
"So what?" he asks Jonghyun.
Jonghyun gives him this pitying look, like he cares about every single detail in Kyuhyun's life. "You should come with Heechul hyung and me to dinner today," he says to Kyuhyun casually. "I think Jungsu and Siwon hyung are coming along as well."
"Why are you inviting me?"
Jonghyun shifts from foot to foot. "Well, I just wanted you to come along... and I heard that whole thing about what Jungsu hyung said to you guys."
Kyuhyun's not too surprised. Half of their friends probably know by now, even though Kyuhyun hadn't witnessed anyone telling anyone else.
"And I thought you might appreciate it. Or they might." Jonghyun shrugs.
His cheeks are slightly dark, though. Kyuhyun briefly wonders what this means.
"Sure," he says.
Jonghyun brightens. "Great! I'll tell Heechul hyung you're coming along then!" He dives for his cellphone in his pocket.
The photoshoot starts once Jino comes back from the bathroom—apparently he had gotten lost for a few moments. Kyuhyun's glad to see that he stands next to Jino a lot in many of the pictures, although he notices that he stands next to Jonghyun as well. He gets slightly distracted when Jonghyun's around—questions about the dinner and just Jonghyun's strange behavior in general on the tip of his tongue.
Jonghyun gives him plenty of attention, though as usual he pokes and bothers Jino. Jino doesn't mind and play along. Kyuhyun joins the two with a twinge of jealousy, though the jealousy part comes as a shock to him.
Jay, as always, is just watching and grinning at the three of them.
**
Dinner that night is a bit odd, especially since Kyuhyun's pretty close with Jonghyun now and he's always been close with his three other hyungs, of course; but having four Super Junior members together plus Jonghyun is just a bit awkward. Kyuhyun sees how close Jonghyun is with his bandmates and vows to get closer with the other SHINee members. Just because.
Jonghyun smiles at him and sits next to him and drinks a bit too much wine. Kyuhyun notices how his cheeks are pink whenever Jonghyun presses up against his side.
**
"Our album's being postponed?" Jonghyun asks incredulously. "But why?"
"Because," says Jay, who had come bearing this news to them, very patiently. "There's actually a multitude of reasons, but we also need to finish the photoshoot and finish recording the songs. And there's also the music video."
"Music video?" says Jino eagerly.
Jay regards him with a fatherly smile. "Yeah. For Hot Times and Miss You."
"Then when's the album supposed to come out now?" interrupts Jonghyun.
"November twenty-ninth," Jay answers.
"That's like a month from now!"
"Twenty-eight days," Kyuhyun corrects.
Jonghyun shoots him a look. "Twenty-eight days. Whatever. That's still nearly a month."
"But our debut is right before that," continues Jay, like this whole conversation hadn't happened. "On Inkigayo. We'll be performing Miss You."
"When are the music videos coming out?" asks Jino.
"Some time during late November and early December. So we'll be really busy." Jay glances between Kyuhyun and Jonghyun. "They won't intervene with your other schedules for Super Junior and SHINee, right?"
Kyuhyun scoffs, "What schedules?" the same time Jonghyun says, "Nah."
They grin at each other.
**
"Wow," says Kyuhyun, glancing down their schedule. "We have so many photoshoots."
"Yeah. Two." Jonghyun snorts. "That's a lot."
"Shut up, you." Kyuhyun whacks him on the head.
Jino, beside them, lets out a little giggle. Kyuhyun throws him a smile.
"Well we have our other official one today, and the Nylon one next week." Jonghyun moves a little to the side. "Or is it the week after that? I can't tell."
"The week after that," says Kyuhyun, rolling his eyes. "Learn how to read."
"Learn how to be nice."
"You two should learn how to shut up," says Jay, coming up from behind them and looking too amused for his own good.
"So we're recording for the Missing You music video today?" says Jonghyun, looking over Kyuhyun's shoulder again. "What are we going to do? Stand around and sing?"
"Actually, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what we're going to be doing," says Jay, looking up thoughtfully. "The director said that there's going to be a storyline that we won't play a part in."
"Then what's the point of actually having us?" says Jonghyun.
"For singing, of course. They want our beautiful voices," says Kyuhyun.
"My beautiful voice."
"Actually, mine."
"I think Jay hyung's voice is the best," chimes in Jino.
Kyuhyun and Jonghyun glance back to him. Jay pats Jino on the head. "Thanks kid," he says to him.
Jino beams. Kyuhyun feels embarrassingly infatuated.
**
So the recording and photoshoots go as planned. Soon enough it's November twenty-eighth, the day of their debut.
The four of them are backstage. Jay's talking with members from other bands like they're old friends, probably because they are. Kyuhyun would be doing the same, except he feels a little bad for Jino because Jino's new, so he doesn't. Jonghyun joins him.
Some members from some girl bands come up to Jino and speak to him. They giggle when they walk away. Kyuhyun glances back at them suspiciously.
"Are you allowed to date?" he inquires Jino, and then nearly hits himself for sounding as blunt as Jonghyun usually is.
Jino blushes immediately. "I don't know," he mumbles. "The contract didn't say anything about it. But I don't think any of those girls would go for me."
Kyuhyun rolls his eyes. "Sure. And they'd go for Jonghyun. Right."
"Hey! Girls go for me!" says Jonghyun indignantly.
"Maybe on some other planet," says Kyuhyun, glancing at him disinterestedly.
"Yeah, well on all planets, more girls go for me than they go for you!"
"You wish—" starts Kyuhyun, but before he can say anymore, Jay runs up to them and puts a finger to his mouth and tells them, "We're up next!"
**
They perform flawlessly (at least, in Kyuhyun's opinion), and after glancing at the schedule, Kyuhyun hopes they can keep it up for the next few weeks. They'll be on Music Bank, Music Core and Inkigayo for about the next month. Not to mention the endless number of radio shows that they've been invited to.
The first music video gets decent reception, and the Hot Times gets even more. Kyuhyun knows that he looks good in it. So do the rest of them.
The day their second music video comes out, Kyuhyun, Jonghyun and Jino have been invited to Starry Night radio. Jay can't come, because apparently he's busy again.
After the broadcast and saying good-bye to Park Kyung Lim, they walk out of the building and into the cool autumn air. And that's when Jonghyun says to the both of them, "You know, we should get lunch together."
"Well weren't we about to?" asks Jino. "We're going to the practice building, aren't we?"
"I mean, get lunch out," says Jonghyun. "Around here. Somewhere."
Jino shrugs and turns to Kyuhyun. "What do you think, hyung?"
Kyuhyun's a bit flattered that Jino's looking out for his opinion. "Seems like a good idea," he says, doing his best to keep his voice light.
Jonghyun brightens. "Awesome! Let's go find a place!"
He grabs Kyuhyun's hand and tears down the street. It takes an extra second for Kyuhyun to even think about holding Jino's hand, but by this time, Jino's already too far behind them, laughing in the distance.
**
Eye surgery can be such a bitch. Kyuhyun put sunglasses on and wears a large coat. Just because he can. And because Hyukjae hyung had said that he should.
At Sukira open broadcast - and after this, they have Youngstreet, and then the day after, Shimshimtampa [who runs it??] (Kyuhyun privately knows that they've been assigned to do radio shows involving Super Junior members because Jungsu, again, waits them to be together. Not that Kyuhyun's opposed, but he really is quite happy with just being a part of SM the Ballad) - Jino's asked which hyung he likes better: Kyuhyun or Jonghyun.
Jino laughs and Kyuhyun hopes, a little, that he'll say, "Kyuhyun hyung!" But he doesn't and looks too contemplative, and Kyuhyun's a little bit scared.
"Jay hyung!" the audience yells out.
Jino nods and laughs again, into the microphone. "Yes, Jay hyung," he agrees.
**
Kyuhyun gets a call from Jonghyun, saying that he wants to see him in their usual practice room. Kyuhyun agrees and goes there, half-expecting the rest of the SM the Ballad members to be inside as well.
What he doesn't expect is for Jonghyun to be standing there, alone, looking a little bit lost in the slightly dark room. Kyuhyun immediately worries.
"Jonghyun?" he calls softly.
Jonghyun looks up immediately at the sound of his voice. "Oh, hi Kyuhyun," he says. He sounds half-relieved, half-scared. He twists his fingers together.
Kyuhyun frowns and walks toward him. "What's wrong?" he asks him.
Jonghyun doesn't answer. Which is odd, because Jonghyun's never quiet. Not if he can help it.
"What's wrong?" Kyuhyun repeats, wishing he was better at this whole caring thing.
And that's when Jonghyun brings his head up and looks at him. And Kyuhyun's not quite sure what happens in that moment, because no one has ever looked at him like that before—and then suddenly, Jonghyun brings his face in and kisses Kyuhyun right on the lips.
Kyuhyun freezes. Jonghyun holds his face in his hand for the briefest of moments, their lips still touching. Then Jonghyun lets go, although he doesn't move back.
Kyuhyun hesitates, and then slowly works his lips against Jonghyun's. Jonghyun lets out a noise that sounds surprised, maybe even eager. He presses to Kyuhyun, again. A question.
So Kyuhyun lets himself get lost in the sensation of Jonghyun kissing him, because it's not like anything he's ever expected before, and it's new, sure—but Kyuhyun's always liked new things.
**
Jonghyun's happier nowadays and Kyuhyun's glad. No one else knows what's going on between them—stolen kisses in dark practice rooms, wandering hands at night—but it's all in good fun, Kyuhyun thinks. A great way to let his hormones out.
And because it's a great way to let his hormones out, he can't stop staring at Jino even more than usual. Maybe it's because with everything Jonghyun's giving him, Kyuhyun just wants more—and he wants more of Jonghyun, even though he's pining for Jino, and he tells himself that everything he does with Jonghyun is fueled by Jino.
Jay looks like he might know something, but doesn't say anything.
On one of the days in a dark practice room—there are a lot, and Kyuhyun doesn't know if they've used this one before—Jonghyun's lovely fingers are tangled into Kyuhyun's hair while Kyuhyun's leaning down, kissing him. His tongue snakes through Jonghyun's lips and Jonghyun responds eagerly, rolling his hips against Kyuhyun's. It takes all of Kyuhyun to suppress a groan.
"I've really wanted," says Jonghyun breathlessly when he pulls away, and Kyuhyun kisses him again to shut him up. This is not a time for speaking.
Jonghyun breaks away and looks at Kyuhyun in the eye. "This for a while," he finishes, smiling at Kyuhyun slightly.
Kyuhyun nods and doesn't know what to say. "Right," he murmurs, and bends his head down to kiss Jonghyun's jaw.
Jonghyun gasps and lets his body fall into Kyuhyun's. This time, Kyuhyun actually groans out loud. "What about you?" Jonghyun manages to say, while Kyuhyun continues to place kisses all over his skin.
"What about me?" Kyuhyun moves down to Jonghyun's throat.
"About... this... ah." Jonghyun giggles when the side of Kyuhyun's head nudges his neck, hair brushing against him. "That tickles."
Kyuhyun hums and doesn't say anything, even though Jonghyun's words run through his brain. He runs his teeth along Jonghyun's collarbone, letting the question remain forgotten in the air.
**
They manage to sneak by during the day as well, though they have to be more cautious than necessary. Jonghyun tells Kyuhyun that he thinks it's inconvenient, but Kyuhyun sort of likes the thrill of almost getting caught.
"Besides," he says, his hot breath on the side of Jonghyun's face. "You like challenges, don't you?"
Jonghyun lets out something that sounds like a growl; it's hard to tell, because the sound quickly turns into a whine as Kyuhyun runs his fingers down Jonghyun's body. He can feel himself getting harder. Jonghyun, too.
It's completely unprofessional, how they go about releasing their hormones, Kyuhyun knows—the other Super Junior members just do it in the shower, or in their beds when they don't think the others don't know (even though everyone knows.) But Kyuhyun has someone this time, and sure it's a man and he'll be in a load of trouble, but both he and Jonghyun are enjoying this, aren't they? And that's what's important: Kyuhyun just wants someone to use as an outlet, and Jonghyun just wants him.
Jonghyun gets off within seconds after Kyuhyun strokes him, and then Jonghyun reaches down to do the same. When they're done, Jonghyun collapses onto him, the front of his body slung all over Kyuhyun's torso.
Kyuhyun's legs buckle and he falls to the ground against the practice room wall. "Get off me," he grumbles, shoving Jonghyun off.
Jonghyun hops away and faces Kyuhyun, smiling. "Don't be so aggressive," he says, almost teasingly.
Kyuhyun can't help being faintly amused at Jonghyun's words. "I'm aggressive?" he says. "You're more aggressive than me."
"Not true," says Jonghyun, sticking his tongue out.
Kyuhyun laughs and tickles Jonghyun, and pointedly moves away when Jonghyun leans over to do the same.
**
"I'm starving," says Jonghyun when the food arrives. Across from him, Jino giggles. Next to Jino, Kyuhyun is looking around the restaurant.
"You're always hungry," he says without looking at Jonghyun.
"Hey! That's not true," says Jonghyun through a mouthful of beans. He swallows. "And you it loads more than me."
Kyuhyun doesn't say anything to this, knowing it's true, although he feels a bit humiliated when Jino says, "You really do, hyung."
"Hmph." Kyuhyun shoots a glance in Jonghyun's direction. "At least I don't make it obvious."
"You make other things obvious," says Jonghyun, nudging Kyuhyun's foot under the table.
Kyuhyun pretends he doesn't feel it, for the sake of Jino. In fact, he turns away from Jonghyun completely to give all his attention to Jino.
"So," Kyuhyun says to him, "that girl who flirted with you was pretty, wasn't she?"
Jino quickly turns away, though it's obvious that his cheeks are bright pink. "Um, I guess," he says. "She really was flirting, wasn't she?"
"Who was flirting with Jino?" Jonghyun asks curiously, looking between the two of them. Kyuhyun can see that Jonghyun's eyes are flickering towards him more often.
"On the way here, weren't you paying attention?" says Kyuhyun, half-exasperatedly. "A girl on the street, though she didn't seem to recognize Jino or anything. Probably just thought he was cute, though."
"Well he is cute," says Jonghyun teasingly, and Jino blushes even more. Kyuhyun feels a twinge of irritation.
"All that aside," he says, turning to Jino again. "Maybe you should date her," he tells Jino.
"She didn't give me a number," mumbles Jino, his face still pink.
"But you are allowed to date?" Kyuhyun raises his eyebrows.
Jino shrugs. Kyuhyun takes this as a yes, and opens up his mouth to say more—but at that moment, their food arrives and Kyuhyun decides not to press the matter.
Besides, Jonghyun kicks him under the table again and this time, Kyuhyun can't help but smile.
**
It's when the ecstasy has gone away and Kyuhyun and Jonghyun are just sitting in the restroom, not saying anything to each other—though Jonghyun occasionally shoots Kyuhyun glances—the door suddenly opens and someone from the stage comes in.
They jump up instinctively. Kyuhyun realizes that they're both clothed now, and lets out a sigh of relief.
"SM the Ballad's on soon," says the stage member, peering at them curiously. "What are you two doing in here?"
"Er—we're both just tired," replies Kyuhyun. Though this much is true: they both are tired. From certain things.
"Well try not to show it when you go on stage," the stage member tells them, and then leaves the room.
Kyuhyun goes out after her, and hears Jonghyun following him. Jonghyun doesn't say anything, although his arm brushes against Kyuhyun's. It sends warm tingles all over his skin.
They meet up with Jino and Jay, who are standing right out backstage, waiting to go on. Jino nearly jumps at the sight of them.
"Hyung! Where were you guys?" Kyuhyun is pleased to see that Jino runs to him first. He glances at Jonghyun for his reaction.
But Jonghyun doesn't even seem to care about Jino. He keeps sending Kyuhyun fleeting glances.
Kyuhyun turns back to Jino. "We were in the restroom," he says, doing his best to sound warm although all he can think about is what exactly he and Jonghyun had been doing in the restroom. He mentally shakes the thoughts out of his mind.
"And we got lost," cuts in Jonghyun.
"Oh." Jino frowns for a moment at Jonghyun, and then brightens up. "Okay! You guys ready for tonight!"
"We're ready," says Kyuhyun, beaming at him.
He notices that Jonghyun doesn't say anything to this.
**
Kyuhyun would really like to give Jino more attention, but Jonghyun latches onto him like a little puppy and Kyuhyun can't shake him off. Kyuhyun would like to shake him off, and he probably could; it's just that when he looks back at Jonghyun and thinks of him, Jonghyun's just someone he doesn't want to let go of.
Jonghyun practically smothers him in hugs during one of their concerts. Kyuhyun doesn't mind too much.
"Really, hyung," says Jino amusedly when they're in the dressing room again. "I thought Kyuhyun hyung was going to fall because you were hugging him too hard."
Jonghyun smiles at Jino, which is strange because if Kyuhyun didn't know better, he would have thought that Jonghyun had been acting cold to Jino for the past few weeks or so. Kyuhyun doesn't know what Jino had done wrong, though. He had been thinking of asking Jonghyun what was up.
And he thinks he should talk about Jino with Jonghyun again when Jonghyun says, "Well only I can hug Kyuhyun like that and get away with it." It sounds like Jonghyun is implying something else.
So Kyuhyun steps in. "You cannot," he says with a scoff. "I let plenty of other people nearly strangle me to death like that." In hindsight, his sentence doesn't make much sense.
Jonghyun turns to him, still amused. "Oh really," he says. "Like who?"
"Like plenty of my hyungs," says Kyuhyun. "And probably Jino here." He nods toward Jino.
Jino laughs. "Sure, hyung. Maybe I should try to see if it's true."
Kyuhyun would like that, and doesn't even think about looking at Jonghyun's face at these words—but before any of them can do or say anything more, Jay suddenly pops his head in.
"Hurry up, guys, or we're going to be late for dinner!"
**
It's their own free time, which is a relief and slightly strange, since they rarely have any free time. Kyuhyun would like to be with Jino, or his Super Junior members, or be playing video games, watching dramas or doing something of that sort. But he's a bit busy doing something else.
"You," says Kyuhyun against Jonghyun's neck, "are completely useless."
"I appreciate your kind words," Jonghyun murmurs, craning his neck some more for Kyuhyun to get better access. Kyuhyun rolls his eyes, but licks at the skin, relishing in Jonghyun's taste.
"Really, I have to do all the work around here," says Kyuhyun without venom, his fingers working on the waistband of Jonghyun's trousers. "And show you a good time."
"Because you like having control, remember?" gasps Jonghyun as Kyuhyun's hand plays about around the front of his crotch.
Kyuhyun hums. "I suppose this is true," he says, taking in one of Jonghyun's earlobes with his teeth and lightly biting on it. Jonghyun gasps again, his hands forcing themselves into Kyuhyun's hair.
"You really have no self-control, do you?" says Kyuhyun amusedly, his fingers toying with Jonghyun's erection.
"Neither do you," mutters Jonghyun as Kyuhyun goes down on his knees.
**
Part II
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