microlight | shift // qmi; super junior-m // g

Super Junior-M + Leeteuk; QMi. Not!AU, romance/fluff. G. 662 words.
♣ Kyuhyun knows the exact moment he fell in love.

I don't really know when this takes place...sometime in 2009?
For my fic trade with doumyoujitsukas (hers is here!). I was too lame for your prompt, so I used this instead: Funny how falling feels like flying for a little while.

Shift

There's a moment when Zhou Mi is leaning on Han Geng and laughing so hard that he can't stand up straight. He shakes silently as he rests his forehead on Han Geng's shoulder, and his other hand comes up to wave in the air, wordlessly begging Donghae to stop, stop.

Zhou Mi moves and the sun catches on his earring. Before Kyuhyun realizes, his eyes trail down Zhou Mi's neck, catch on a peek of collarbone and—oh.

Oh.

Suddenly everything changes.

--

Kyuhyun thinks he might be smiling too much, touching too much. They all do—it's how the game is played—but now his intentions are skewed. He looks at Zhou Mi and he feels calm, no matter where they are, and that's not supposed to happen.

He doesn't let himself worry about it, though: between interviews and fanmeets, he's got enough on his plate. Instead, he goes for pragmatism. So he's staring too much—he can fix that, starting now. Kyuhyun looks away into the crowd and gives the fans a close-lipped smile, his eyes flickering over the sapphire signs.

The announcer says his name, and he turns to her while she speaks. Then Zhou Mi leans over to whisper in his ear and he doesn't quite know what to do with himself.

Pragmatism, he remembers. Be reasonable.

Kyuhyun stares at the crowd for a moment before asking Zhou Mi to say it again. Zhou Mi does, his words tinged with amusement this time. Kyuhyun manages to come up with a polite, if halting, answer, but he can't stop himself from smiling and leaning closer when Zhou Mi's fingers tangle with his.

One at a time, he concedes. First he'll work on the staring, and then the smiles.

He's not sure how he'll give the touching up.

--

"You've changed," Leeteuk says, his voice half-buried by static.

Kyuhyun looks out the window as night falls over Beijing, his cheek warmed by the phone that's pressed against his face. "Really?" he says. "How?"

Leeteuk laughs, sounding embarrassed. "I don't really know," he says. "You seem happier."

"I'm tired," Kyuhyun says.

"Everyone's tired," Leeteuk sighs.

"But…I am. Happy," he clarifies, cocking his head to the side. He considers for a moment. Leeteuk waits patiently, somewhere in Seoul with another long night ahead of him. Kyuhyun feels a sudden rush of guilt for calling so much.

"How is everyone?" he asks.

"Fine," Leeteuk says. "Listen, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I'm just glad you're doing well."

Kyuhyun starts to say something sarcastic but his eye is caught by the way the setting sun reflects off the glass buildings. It reminds him of an earlier afternoon, and his hand stills against the cold windowpane.

"Thanks, hyung," he says instead.

Later, Kyuhyun sets the phone down on the table beside him. Zhou Mi is downstairs. Kyuhyun is supposed to be asleep, but he never sleeps: he watches TV or plays with his PSP or bothers those they've left behind in Seoul. These days, though, he keeps drifting off into thought instead.

It would be better if he hadn't noticed, he thinks. He retracts the thought immediately.

It would, he decides, be better if he had courage.

Kyuhyun stares at his blurred reflection and wonders how long that will take.

--

A few weeks later, Kyuhyun is alone in the practice room. It's well after midnight. Fluorescent lights buzz overhead and darken the shadows under his eyes; there's an ache in his chest.

He wonders if Zhou Mi is already asleep in their hotel room. He imagines him curled around a pillow with his eyes closed, long lashes fanned against his cheeks, dim light filtering through the blinds to throw crossbars across his frame.

Zhou Mi, he realizes, has never turned him away. Not once.

Kyuhyun flips his phone open. He scrolls to Zhou Mi's number—hesitates—and begins to type.

Sequel: Passage.

shift // qmi; super junior-m // g

Sequel Link