[Fic] Rundown 8/8
Oct. 14th, 2009 03:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coley_merrinTitle: Rundown
Author: Coley Merrin
Rating: R
Pairings: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun (main) and small amounts of Siwon/Hankyung
Genre: AU, baseball
Warning: Sexual situations.
Summary: As Zhou Mi's dreams are put in jeopardy, Kyuhyun is forced to face everything he has tried to escape.
***
Chapter One ** Chapter Two ** Chapter Three ** Chapter Four ** Chapter Five ** Chapter Six ** Chapter Seven ** Chapter Eight
***
Zhou Mi knew the moment Kyuhyun had spotted him, the widening of his eyes, the semi-audible gasp. But he recovered well, professionally, his eyes moving back over the crowd and avoiding Zhou Mi quite deliberately. It was the first time he had seen Kyuhyun outside of a picture since the night of Miyun’s birthday. Even the subtle glances he had sent up toward the owner’s suite had not afforded him a view. Get out of this relationship, before he makes you... his mind had urged. But had been the last thing he had wanted.
So when he had gotten the call, such a simple thing, only a few words from a friend, he hadn’t been able to stay away. And to hear him sing...
Kyuhyun’s face was happy, calm as he waked off the stage, shaking a few hands as he went. But his destination was Zhou Mi. He passed, wordlessly, leading Zhou Mi into a small side room that Zhou Mi assumed was for the waiting artists. If afforded them privacy.
“I got a call that you were performing here,” Zhou Mi said, leading off with the obvious. “He contacted you to do this?”
“No...I called him,” Kyuhyun said, removing his suit jacket. “I found the paper you left with his name on it, and thought it was time.”
Zhou Mi exhaled. So Kyuhyun had taken the initiative on his own.
“He said people ask for you to come back... That you’re really doing good.”
Kyuhyun shrugged a shoulder, pulling his things together. “I hear that, too. I’m glad they like it. Keeps me in business.”
“Are you enjoying it?” he asked softly.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”
Kyuhyun’s eyes were not on him, but he could hear the simple honesty there, and it hurt him. Helped him.
“I’m so glad. I’m so glad... You deserve to be happy.”
“Thanks.”
They stood like strangers, arm lengths away. Kyuhyun’s head slightly cocked, as though he gauged Zhou Mi’s reaction.
Maybe...all they were to each other was strangers. If they had been together, he would have grabbed Kyuhyun, danced with him. Congratulated him. Maybe let Kyuhyun do his worst and get him well and drunk, and then kiss him silly in Kyuhyun’s bed. And Kyuhyun would have been so happy to have been with him...
He shook his head, before his eyes could sting from the want. He swallowed, reaching for the words for the solemn eyed man. “I’m sorry... I should go. I just wanted to congratulate you. You deserve it.”
I’m so proud of you.
His nails bit into his hand as he spun, cursing himself at the well of emotion that burned in his throat.
“She asks about you,” Kyuhyun told him, stopping him before he could reach the door. “Asks where her Zhou Mimi is today, when he’s coming back.”
The little girl’s smiling face... He turned his head slightly, though he wanted to run.
“Oh?”
“She gets excited when we look through the paper and find a picture of you. She can find your name. And when they show you batting on TV, she squeals out for you.”
This time he turned, fully. “You don’t follow baseball.”
There was a peculiar light Kyuhyun’s smile. “I would for you.”
Zhou Mi didn’t know where to look. The wall, the floor, Kyuhyun’s eyes. Nothing made real sense. And he didn’t even begin to hope.
“For me?”
Kyuhyun nodded, taking a couple of steps toward him. “I learned something in the last few months. That even though I tried to get away from my fathers wishes, I kept falling into it. He wanted me to play sports, so I tried. He wanted me to marry, so I tried. He wanted me to succeed him, and I never once thought that I could do that, until I met you. Because you asked me what I wanted to do, and told me I should do it. Because to you it wasn’t a choice. I never hated baseball, I hated what it took away from me. But now that lack doesn’t exist any more.”
“Oh... Oh.”
Kyuhyun’s lips tilted, an imitation of the expression Zhou Mi had seen weeks ago, standing in the owner’s suite.
“Come home with me?”
Home, Zhou Mi’s mind whispered. Home.
***
Kyuhyun did not feel awkward driving with Zhou Mi beside him. They dropped Zhou Mi’s car off at his house, before Zhou Mi had climbed in beside him. The radio buzzed, traffic lights shone, and he could feel Zhou Mi’s presence, which was a balm he had been missing.
They walked in together, checking in the playroom where the nanny was picking up.
“Is Miyun still awake?”
“She’s been fretting for you, sir,” the nanny said honestly.
“Thank you... I’ll be with her now, you can sleep.”
“Thank you, sir.”
They could hear her fretting even before they reached the door, the sort of rising wail as she called for Kyuhyun.
“Daaa~ddyyyyy.”
He smiled, pushing into the room and moving to her, where she rocked miserably on her little bed.
“Miyun...”
“Daddy!”
She was welded to him like a hot little brick.
“Hi Daddy, hi...”
He pressed his cheek to her hair, and wondered if her reaction to Zhou Mi might speak for the both of them.
“Hi Miyun, hi... I brought someone home to see you.”
“Really?”
She strained away from him, eyes wide as she searched. He knew the moment she saw Zhou Mi, the way she nearly vibrated, as though she wasn’t really sure which way she was supposed to react.
“Zhou...Mimi!”
The end of his name was nearly inaudible, the squeal was so high. If she could have flown, she would have leaped from his arms directly to Zhou Mi’s. As it was, she had to wait the second and a half that it took for Zhou Mi to step up and extend his arms to her.
“Zhou Mimi,” she sobbed, tears coming spontaneously as she tried to crawl into him almost. Kyuhyun had to swallow around the lump in his throat as he watched.
“Don’t cry, angel,” Zhou Mi murmured, cuddling her close.
She whimpered, clutching his shirt.
“I’m happy to see you... You look good. Happy Miyun is happy to see me. How is Miyun?”
“Goood.”
“That’s good. Are you supposed to be sleeping?”
She nodded.
“Can I help you sleep?”
Her chin wobbled. “Okay?”
She cooed, and allowed Zhou Mi to lay her in the bed. He made no move away, staying there close to her.
“I’ll be here in the morning, okay? We’ll eat breakfast together. Okay? You and me and your daddy.”
“Daddy?” she hiccuped.
“I’m here, baby,” Kyuhyun assured her. “Sleep like a good girl, and we’ll have pancakes, okay? I love you.” He kissed her forehead.
She nodded, rubbing at her tears. “Love you, too.”
Zhou Mi pinched her nose with a tissue from the box nearby, making her giggle. “Want your Mimi-bear to sing to you?”
“Yes.” The little voice was a little less wavery.
Zhou Mi sang with the bear, stroking gentle fingers along her back. She wasn’t immune to that, her eyelids drooping. Kyuhyun had to loop his fingers together to keep from reaching out, putting his hand on Zhou Mi’s shoulder. She was fast asleep by the end of the second time through the song, and Zhou Mi stood.
“It’s enough to break a heart into a million pieces,” Zhou Mi said, soft, after the door had closed. And Kyuhyun heard Zhou Mi’s love for her in his voice. It was enough to imagine it bringing himself to his knees and begging.
“The week after you left was the worst. We had to start looking up footage of you, newspapers, to give her some perspective on why you weren’t here. Should I be jealous, that my daughter likes you that much?”
“She’d react the same if it was you,” Zhou Mi pointed out.
“She doesn’t remember her mother. She’s just a nice lady who stops by every so often with toys. Even if I point out her picture and call her Mommy, she gets really quiet and shy during the visits. She didn’t forget you.”
“I’m sorry for hurting her. I honestly am, Kyuhyun. I never wanted that. Or to hurt you...”
“Hurting her is what I’m angry about,” Kyuhyun interrupted. “Keep your promises to her, is all I ask. I’ll go see if there’s a room ready for you.”
Zhou Mi stopped him with an arm, enfolding him almost immediately and pressing cool lips to Kyuhyun’s neck. He only half suppressed the shiver. “I’m sorry for hurting you, Kui Xian,” he whispered.
“Everything you said back then was true,” Kyuhyun said, thinking his voice sounded strangely wooden. “Things don’t work out...”
Zhou Mi’s head shook with some violence, knocking their heads together painfully. “No... No, it wasn’t true. I wanted you... So much. Everything... To sleep with you and talk with you. And love your baby girl. To think that you might not want that with me, because of my job...”
“I knew what your job was when we slept together the first time!” Kyuhyun argued.
“I know, but... You didn’t mean that to be forever. Maybe that we could have some fun while I wasn’t playing, and then part ways.”
It was too close to the truth. How did he refute that?
Zhou Mi pulled back, Kyuhyun’s frozen muscles almost preventing him. His eyes were painfully dark and steady. “I don’t think I thought it could last either. I really didn’t expect to fall in love with you. Not that quickly.”
“I don’t see how that...”
He was cut off by Zhou Mi’s kiss.
“I love you, okay? I’ll do... I don’t know. I want to make this better.”
Kyuhyun huffed, “You always have to be first, don’t you?”
Zhou Mi frowned, his thumb running along Kyuhyun’s pulse. “What?”
He let his lips trail along Zhou Mi’s. “I had a secret when you left. Seems kind of silly now.” He smirked. “Want to know what it is?”
“Please.”
He let himself revel in Zhou Mi’s sigh as he dragged his lips along the slender neck. It was worth a little humiliation, a little scary soul-baring, for the man who lit happiness into his daughter’s eyes. Who lifted him up and kicked him out into a world he swore couldn’t ever be his. And when he smiled...
“I fell in love with you, too,” Kyuhyun said simply. “And I had to believe you’d come back, because if you didn’t... If you didn’t... I was working up the strength to drag you back by the hair, because you being stupid shouldn’t hurt Miyun, too. You couldn’t get away with that.”
“Kyuhyun...”
“I’ll follow you in your dreams, and I’ll make my own.”
To say they looked at each other was understating it, and yet searched wasn’t quite right either. It was more like assurance, to know that who they saw was the same person as the one they had been wanting.
Zhou Mi suddenly smiled, glancing down for just a moment as though abashed. “Does that mean I don’t have to have my own room?”
The laugh was stuttered against Zhou Mi’s mouth.
It was the first time they made love truly face to face. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be erotic, but he found it was, to be able to lift his head and feel the answering press of Zhou Mi’s kiss. They were wound around and in each other like merging vines.
“I’ve needed this for weeks,” Kyuhyun ground out sometime in the middle of it all.
And when those words sank into Zhou Mi, the whole bed shook with their laughter. But it didn’t keep them from gasping out their pleasure against each other.
He cradled Zhou Mi’s head on his chest, tracing the bones of his face and feeling just the slightest bit smug. Zhou Mi nibbled as his thumb as it passed his mouth, and for some reason, just that action made him sure of what he needed to do.
“Move in with me,” he murmured, hoping Zhou Mi understood. The dark head rose, and in the light, he could see the shock in the slack mouth.
“Are you sure?”
“I think having you here every minute you’re in town sounds like a good plan to me.”
“More time with you. More time with Miyun.”
Kyuhyun hummed in agreement with both of those before added one of his own.
“More time like this.”
“Yes. Yes, I will.”
Easy access to Zhou Mi, in his bed. At the breakfast table. More kisses like the one Zhou Mi attacked him with.
About the only thing that made him happier was the squeal from Miyun when she realized Zhou Mi was there the next morning, and Zhou Mi’s answering cry.
***
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes when he realized his father was in the owner’s suite, because he knew what was coming.
“I’m glad to see you being involved,” his father said, with as much enthusiasm as if he had been speaking of a cloudy day. “It’s made me glad to have you on board as my V.P.”
“I’m sure everyone else is happy to have me.” Kyuhyun knew the humor would go over his father’s head.
“We’ll have to see about giving Zhou Mi a bonus. I don’t know what he did...”
Kyuhyun hummed. “I’ve taken care of that.”
“Oh?”
“He’s been living with me at the house for the past few weeks. I’m surprised you hadn’t heard.”
The stunned silence was oddly satisfying, in that it was exactly what he had expected. Thoughts, calculations ran through his father’s eyes.
“You’re living with him? Kyuhyun... Impropriety doesn’t even begin to speak of it. We should trade him. Even then...”
“Even then, as your vice president I would advise against it,” Kyuhyun said smoothly.
“Did you take this position just to secure his spot on the team?” his father demanded.
“He has a spot! And it’s up to him to keep it. But if you’re asking me if I’ll protect him from you, then yes, I will. I refuse to hide and sneak around as if I were still thirteen and you could ground me. And if you go around me on this, I’ll follow him to whatever team he goes to. I’ll join their staff. And I’ll never be back.”
The older man laughed, and Kyuhyun heard shades of himself in that sound. “My son has finally found his backbone. You’d leave, deny me access to my granddaughter?”
“Maybe you should start being a grandfather first,” he retorted.
There was a moment of silence, as though his father were considering his words.
“Fair enough,” his father finally replied. “I’ve... I don’t know know how to be around a little girl. If your mother were still alive, she’d have known.”
Kyuhyun blew out a breath at that emotional statement. But didn’t lose sight of the conversation. “If you had spent any time with Miyun at all, you wouldn’t worry. She’s not just a little girl, she’s your family.”
“If you’ll allow it, then, maybe some night next week I could come by. Have dinner with you and her. And Zhou Mi would be there?”
“Seeing as how he lives with me.”
Most of the anger was gone from him, as he contemplated his father’s offer. It wasn’t like they were going to be buddies in the next five minutes. But that he offered even to come by, look at Miyun. Try for one second of his life to see what Kyuhyun’s life was like. It was something. Not enough, but he had learned to take what he got.
Though he didn’t for a second think his father accepted all of it. Exploding wasn’t how his father dealt with issues like these. He’d surely be hearing more about it, little manipulations. And he’d have to warn Zhou Mi that he’d probably be hearing more as well.
“I only wanted the best for you, Kyuhyun.”
Kyuhyun though of Miyun, of Zhou Mi, of the nights at the club. “I already have it, Dad.”
After a moment of silence, the thought sinking in, his father spoke again, already starting to wheedle. “The other players might think he gets special privileges because of his connection to you...”
Kyuhyun tuned his father out as he watched Zhou Mi warming up. He reached to brush his fingers against the love bite Zhou Mi had left on his shoulder just that morning.
Privileges? He couldn’t help the grin. Very special ones.
***
Epilogue
“Time to get uuu~p,” a sing song voice called into his ear. “Come on sleepyhead, you know you have to.”
Zhou Mi grunted, and tried to bury his face further into the pillows.
“Daddy, he won’t get up.”
“Maybe if you get your bug collection...”
“I’m awake!” Zhou Mi grunted, getting an arm around around the laughing child who was poking his face with her finger. Miyun at seven was a tall, gangling child who had inherited all of Kyuhyun’s sadistic tendencies. “Why would you even give her those kinds of ideas, Kyuhyun?”
Kyuhyun laughed from the foot of the bed where he was threading a tie into his collar. “It got you moving, didn’t it?”
Miyun giggled, curling into Zhou Mi’s chest for a snuggle.
“Go make sure there’s food to eat, okay?” he said, kissing the top of her head. “My stomach is rumbly.”
“Okay!” she agreed, leaning close to whisper in his ear. “Good morning, Baba.”
She leaped off the bed like a young deer, skittering out the door before the flush of adoration could even make it through him.
Kyuhyun took her spot, sitting on Zhou Mi’s legs like he thought he belonged there. Which... Zhou Mi supposed he did.
“Taking pictures for the album today?” Zhou Mi asked, trying to keep his brain in order as Kyuhyun kissed his neck.
“Yep. I’ll be there to watch the game tonight, though. Miyun is dying to wear her new jersey.”
Kyuhyun’s stint as vice president had lasted about half as long as their relationship had. Six months after releasing his first album, he had stepped down from his official capacity, keeping the tenuous hold in decisions. But he hadn’t made any decisions before making sure Zhou Mi’s position on the team was secure from his father’s meddling. And now, two years later, he was getting ready to release his second recording. Which meant tours, publicity, hours in the studio. There were days when Miyun wasn’t in school when she went with Zhou Mi to the stadium, or with Kyuhyun to a studio. Or sometimes they all went together. She was still as bright and friendly a child as Zhou Mi had ever met. They were buddies, he and Miyun, ganging up on meanie Kyuhyun, or simply enjoying being together, the three of them as a family.
She had only recently started dropping the use of her childhood affectation of his name, Zhou Mimi, and whispering to him secretly, Baba. If he was allowed to have suspicions, he thought that was a bit Kyuhyun’s doing as well.
“Love you, Kyu,” Zhou Mi murmured, holding his lover, his best friend, tight. He cherished the simple happiness he saw in Kyuhyun’s eyes, the look he could conjure there no matter how hard or stressful things had been. They made each other better.
“Love you,” Kyuhyun said, pecking him on the lips before pushing up onto his feet. “Now get your butt out of bed.”
Zhou Mi followed, taking one more moment to cuddle Kyuhyun, pressing his lips to Kyuhyun’s neck and murmuring endearments that never ceased to make Kyuhyun flush with embarrassment. Even after all this time.
“Daddy, it’s breakfast time not cuddle time,” Miyun said from the door way, indulgently exasperated for at least the millionth time in her young life, before scrambling away as Kyuhyun shook a playful fist at her.
“It’s always cuddle time!” Zhou Mi shouted after her.
“You, me and the hot tub, tonight?” Kyuhyun offered.
Zhou Mi grinned against Kyuhyun’s mouth.
It sounded like a date he could keep.
***
Author: Coley Merrin
Rating: R
Pairings: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun (main) and small amounts of Siwon/Hankyung
Genre: AU, baseball
Warning: Sexual situations.
Summary: As Zhou Mi's dreams are put in jeopardy, Kyuhyun is forced to face everything he has tried to escape.
***
Chapter One ** Chapter Two ** Chapter Three ** Chapter Four ** Chapter Five ** Chapter Six ** Chapter Seven ** Chapter Eight
***
Zhou Mi knew the moment Kyuhyun had spotted him, the widening of his eyes, the semi-audible gasp. But he recovered well, professionally, his eyes moving back over the crowd and avoiding Zhou Mi quite deliberately. It was the first time he had seen Kyuhyun outside of a picture since the night of Miyun’s birthday. Even the subtle glances he had sent up toward the owner’s suite had not afforded him a view. Get out of this relationship, before he makes you... his mind had urged. But had been the last thing he had wanted.
So when he had gotten the call, such a simple thing, only a few words from a friend, he hadn’t been able to stay away. And to hear him sing...
Kyuhyun’s face was happy, calm as he waked off the stage, shaking a few hands as he went. But his destination was Zhou Mi. He passed, wordlessly, leading Zhou Mi into a small side room that Zhou Mi assumed was for the waiting artists. If afforded them privacy.
“I got a call that you were performing here,” Zhou Mi said, leading off with the obvious. “He contacted you to do this?”
“No...I called him,” Kyuhyun said, removing his suit jacket. “I found the paper you left with his name on it, and thought it was time.”
Zhou Mi exhaled. So Kyuhyun had taken the initiative on his own.
“He said people ask for you to come back... That you’re really doing good.”
Kyuhyun shrugged a shoulder, pulling his things together. “I hear that, too. I’m glad they like it. Keeps me in business.”
“Are you enjoying it?” he asked softly.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”
Kyuhyun’s eyes were not on him, but he could hear the simple honesty there, and it hurt him. Helped him.
“I’m so glad. I’m so glad... You deserve to be happy.”
“Thanks.”
They stood like strangers, arm lengths away. Kyuhyun’s head slightly cocked, as though he gauged Zhou Mi’s reaction.
Maybe...all they were to each other was strangers. If they had been together, he would have grabbed Kyuhyun, danced with him. Congratulated him. Maybe let Kyuhyun do his worst and get him well and drunk, and then kiss him silly in Kyuhyun’s bed. And Kyuhyun would have been so happy to have been with him...
He shook his head, before his eyes could sting from the want. He swallowed, reaching for the words for the solemn eyed man. “I’m sorry... I should go. I just wanted to congratulate you. You deserve it.”
I’m so proud of you.
His nails bit into his hand as he spun, cursing himself at the well of emotion that burned in his throat.
“She asks about you,” Kyuhyun told him, stopping him before he could reach the door. “Asks where her Zhou Mimi is today, when he’s coming back.”
The little girl’s smiling face... He turned his head slightly, though he wanted to run.
“Oh?”
“She gets excited when we look through the paper and find a picture of you. She can find your name. And when they show you batting on TV, she squeals out for you.”
This time he turned, fully. “You don’t follow baseball.”
There was a peculiar light Kyuhyun’s smile. “I would for you.”
Zhou Mi didn’t know where to look. The wall, the floor, Kyuhyun’s eyes. Nothing made real sense. And he didn’t even begin to hope.
“For me?”
Kyuhyun nodded, taking a couple of steps toward him. “I learned something in the last few months. That even though I tried to get away from my fathers wishes, I kept falling into it. He wanted me to play sports, so I tried. He wanted me to marry, so I tried. He wanted me to succeed him, and I never once thought that I could do that, until I met you. Because you asked me what I wanted to do, and told me I should do it. Because to you it wasn’t a choice. I never hated baseball, I hated what it took away from me. But now that lack doesn’t exist any more.”
“Oh... Oh.”
Kyuhyun’s lips tilted, an imitation of the expression Zhou Mi had seen weeks ago, standing in the owner’s suite.
“Come home with me?”
Home, Zhou Mi’s mind whispered. Home.
***
Kyuhyun did not feel awkward driving with Zhou Mi beside him. They dropped Zhou Mi’s car off at his house, before Zhou Mi had climbed in beside him. The radio buzzed, traffic lights shone, and he could feel Zhou Mi’s presence, which was a balm he had been missing.
They walked in together, checking in the playroom where the nanny was picking up.
“Is Miyun still awake?”
“She’s been fretting for you, sir,” the nanny said honestly.
“Thank you... I’ll be with her now, you can sleep.”
“Thank you, sir.”
They could hear her fretting even before they reached the door, the sort of rising wail as she called for Kyuhyun.
“Daaa~ddyyyyy.”
He smiled, pushing into the room and moving to her, where she rocked miserably on her little bed.
“Miyun...”
“Daddy!”
She was welded to him like a hot little brick.
“Hi Daddy, hi...”
He pressed his cheek to her hair, and wondered if her reaction to Zhou Mi might speak for the both of them.
“Hi Miyun, hi... I brought someone home to see you.”
“Really?”
She strained away from him, eyes wide as she searched. He knew the moment she saw Zhou Mi, the way she nearly vibrated, as though she wasn’t really sure which way she was supposed to react.
“Zhou...Mimi!”
The end of his name was nearly inaudible, the squeal was so high. If she could have flown, she would have leaped from his arms directly to Zhou Mi’s. As it was, she had to wait the second and a half that it took for Zhou Mi to step up and extend his arms to her.
“Zhou Mimi,” she sobbed, tears coming spontaneously as she tried to crawl into him almost. Kyuhyun had to swallow around the lump in his throat as he watched.
“Don’t cry, angel,” Zhou Mi murmured, cuddling her close.
She whimpered, clutching his shirt.
“I’m happy to see you... You look good. Happy Miyun is happy to see me. How is Miyun?”
“Goood.”
“That’s good. Are you supposed to be sleeping?”
She nodded.
“Can I help you sleep?”
Her chin wobbled. “Okay?”
She cooed, and allowed Zhou Mi to lay her in the bed. He made no move away, staying there close to her.
“I’ll be here in the morning, okay? We’ll eat breakfast together. Okay? You and me and your daddy.”
“Daddy?” she hiccuped.
“I’m here, baby,” Kyuhyun assured her. “Sleep like a good girl, and we’ll have pancakes, okay? I love you.” He kissed her forehead.
She nodded, rubbing at her tears. “Love you, too.”
Zhou Mi pinched her nose with a tissue from the box nearby, making her giggle. “Want your Mimi-bear to sing to you?”
“Yes.” The little voice was a little less wavery.
Zhou Mi sang with the bear, stroking gentle fingers along her back. She wasn’t immune to that, her eyelids drooping. Kyuhyun had to loop his fingers together to keep from reaching out, putting his hand on Zhou Mi’s shoulder. She was fast asleep by the end of the second time through the song, and Zhou Mi stood.
“It’s enough to break a heart into a million pieces,” Zhou Mi said, soft, after the door had closed. And Kyuhyun heard Zhou Mi’s love for her in his voice. It was enough to imagine it bringing himself to his knees and begging.
“The week after you left was the worst. We had to start looking up footage of you, newspapers, to give her some perspective on why you weren’t here. Should I be jealous, that my daughter likes you that much?”
“She’d react the same if it was you,” Zhou Mi pointed out.
“She doesn’t remember her mother. She’s just a nice lady who stops by every so often with toys. Even if I point out her picture and call her Mommy, she gets really quiet and shy during the visits. She didn’t forget you.”
“I’m sorry for hurting her. I honestly am, Kyuhyun. I never wanted that. Or to hurt you...”
“Hurting her is what I’m angry about,” Kyuhyun interrupted. “Keep your promises to her, is all I ask. I’ll go see if there’s a room ready for you.”
Zhou Mi stopped him with an arm, enfolding him almost immediately and pressing cool lips to Kyuhyun’s neck. He only half suppressed the shiver. “I’m sorry for hurting you, Kui Xian,” he whispered.
“Everything you said back then was true,” Kyuhyun said, thinking his voice sounded strangely wooden. “Things don’t work out...”
Zhou Mi’s head shook with some violence, knocking their heads together painfully. “No... No, it wasn’t true. I wanted you... So much. Everything... To sleep with you and talk with you. And love your baby girl. To think that you might not want that with me, because of my job...”
“I knew what your job was when we slept together the first time!” Kyuhyun argued.
“I know, but... You didn’t mean that to be forever. Maybe that we could have some fun while I wasn’t playing, and then part ways.”
It was too close to the truth. How did he refute that?
Zhou Mi pulled back, Kyuhyun’s frozen muscles almost preventing him. His eyes were painfully dark and steady. “I don’t think I thought it could last either. I really didn’t expect to fall in love with you. Not that quickly.”
“I don’t see how that...”
He was cut off by Zhou Mi’s kiss.
“I love you, okay? I’ll do... I don’t know. I want to make this better.”
Kyuhyun huffed, “You always have to be first, don’t you?”
Zhou Mi frowned, his thumb running along Kyuhyun’s pulse. “What?”
He let his lips trail along Zhou Mi’s. “I had a secret when you left. Seems kind of silly now.” He smirked. “Want to know what it is?”
“Please.”
He let himself revel in Zhou Mi’s sigh as he dragged his lips along the slender neck. It was worth a little humiliation, a little scary soul-baring, for the man who lit happiness into his daughter’s eyes. Who lifted him up and kicked him out into a world he swore couldn’t ever be his. And when he smiled...
“I fell in love with you, too,” Kyuhyun said simply. “And I had to believe you’d come back, because if you didn’t... If you didn’t... I was working up the strength to drag you back by the hair, because you being stupid shouldn’t hurt Miyun, too. You couldn’t get away with that.”
“Kyuhyun...”
“I’ll follow you in your dreams, and I’ll make my own.”
To say they looked at each other was understating it, and yet searched wasn’t quite right either. It was more like assurance, to know that who they saw was the same person as the one they had been wanting.
Zhou Mi suddenly smiled, glancing down for just a moment as though abashed. “Does that mean I don’t have to have my own room?”
The laugh was stuttered against Zhou Mi’s mouth.
It was the first time they made love truly face to face. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be erotic, but he found it was, to be able to lift his head and feel the answering press of Zhou Mi’s kiss. They were wound around and in each other like merging vines.
“I’ve needed this for weeks,” Kyuhyun ground out sometime in the middle of it all.
And when those words sank into Zhou Mi, the whole bed shook with their laughter. But it didn’t keep them from gasping out their pleasure against each other.
He cradled Zhou Mi’s head on his chest, tracing the bones of his face and feeling just the slightest bit smug. Zhou Mi nibbled as his thumb as it passed his mouth, and for some reason, just that action made him sure of what he needed to do.
“Move in with me,” he murmured, hoping Zhou Mi understood. The dark head rose, and in the light, he could see the shock in the slack mouth.
“Are you sure?”
“I think having you here every minute you’re in town sounds like a good plan to me.”
“More time with you. More time with Miyun.”
Kyuhyun hummed in agreement with both of those before added one of his own.
“More time like this.”
“Yes. Yes, I will.”
Easy access to Zhou Mi, in his bed. At the breakfast table. More kisses like the one Zhou Mi attacked him with.
About the only thing that made him happier was the squeal from Miyun when she realized Zhou Mi was there the next morning, and Zhou Mi’s answering cry.
***
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes when he realized his father was in the owner’s suite, because he knew what was coming.
“I’m glad to see you being involved,” his father said, with as much enthusiasm as if he had been speaking of a cloudy day. “It’s made me glad to have you on board as my V.P.”
“I’m sure everyone else is happy to have me.” Kyuhyun knew the humor would go over his father’s head.
“We’ll have to see about giving Zhou Mi a bonus. I don’t know what he did...”
Kyuhyun hummed. “I’ve taken care of that.”
“Oh?”
“He’s been living with me at the house for the past few weeks. I’m surprised you hadn’t heard.”
The stunned silence was oddly satisfying, in that it was exactly what he had expected. Thoughts, calculations ran through his father’s eyes.
“You’re living with him? Kyuhyun... Impropriety doesn’t even begin to speak of it. We should trade him. Even then...”
“Even then, as your vice president I would advise against it,” Kyuhyun said smoothly.
“Did you take this position just to secure his spot on the team?” his father demanded.
“He has a spot! And it’s up to him to keep it. But if you’re asking me if I’ll protect him from you, then yes, I will. I refuse to hide and sneak around as if I were still thirteen and you could ground me. And if you go around me on this, I’ll follow him to whatever team he goes to. I’ll join their staff. And I’ll never be back.”
The older man laughed, and Kyuhyun heard shades of himself in that sound. “My son has finally found his backbone. You’d leave, deny me access to my granddaughter?”
“Maybe you should start being a grandfather first,” he retorted.
There was a moment of silence, as though his father were considering his words.
“Fair enough,” his father finally replied. “I’ve... I don’t know know how to be around a little girl. If your mother were still alive, she’d have known.”
Kyuhyun blew out a breath at that emotional statement. But didn’t lose sight of the conversation. “If you had spent any time with Miyun at all, you wouldn’t worry. She’s not just a little girl, she’s your family.”
“If you’ll allow it, then, maybe some night next week I could come by. Have dinner with you and her. And Zhou Mi would be there?”
“Seeing as how he lives with me.”
Most of the anger was gone from him, as he contemplated his father’s offer. It wasn’t like they were going to be buddies in the next five minutes. But that he offered even to come by, look at Miyun. Try for one second of his life to see what Kyuhyun’s life was like. It was something. Not enough, but he had learned to take what he got.
Though he didn’t for a second think his father accepted all of it. Exploding wasn’t how his father dealt with issues like these. He’d surely be hearing more about it, little manipulations. And he’d have to warn Zhou Mi that he’d probably be hearing more as well.
“I only wanted the best for you, Kyuhyun.”
Kyuhyun though of Miyun, of Zhou Mi, of the nights at the club. “I already have it, Dad.”
After a moment of silence, the thought sinking in, his father spoke again, already starting to wheedle. “The other players might think he gets special privileges because of his connection to you...”
Kyuhyun tuned his father out as he watched Zhou Mi warming up. He reached to brush his fingers against the love bite Zhou Mi had left on his shoulder just that morning.
Privileges? He couldn’t help the grin. Very special ones.
***
Epilogue
“Time to get uuu~p,” a sing song voice called into his ear. “Come on sleepyhead, you know you have to.”
Zhou Mi grunted, and tried to bury his face further into the pillows.
“Daddy, he won’t get up.”
“Maybe if you get your bug collection...”
“I’m awake!” Zhou Mi grunted, getting an arm around around the laughing child who was poking his face with her finger. Miyun at seven was a tall, gangling child who had inherited all of Kyuhyun’s sadistic tendencies. “Why would you even give her those kinds of ideas, Kyuhyun?”
Kyuhyun laughed from the foot of the bed where he was threading a tie into his collar. “It got you moving, didn’t it?”
Miyun giggled, curling into Zhou Mi’s chest for a snuggle.
“Go make sure there’s food to eat, okay?” he said, kissing the top of her head. “My stomach is rumbly.”
“Okay!” she agreed, leaning close to whisper in his ear. “Good morning, Baba.”
She leaped off the bed like a young deer, skittering out the door before the flush of adoration could even make it through him.
Kyuhyun took her spot, sitting on Zhou Mi’s legs like he thought he belonged there. Which... Zhou Mi supposed he did.
“Taking pictures for the album today?” Zhou Mi asked, trying to keep his brain in order as Kyuhyun kissed his neck.
“Yep. I’ll be there to watch the game tonight, though. Miyun is dying to wear her new jersey.”
Kyuhyun’s stint as vice president had lasted about half as long as their relationship had. Six months after releasing his first album, he had stepped down from his official capacity, keeping the tenuous hold in decisions. But he hadn’t made any decisions before making sure Zhou Mi’s position on the team was secure from his father’s meddling. And now, two years later, he was getting ready to release his second recording. Which meant tours, publicity, hours in the studio. There were days when Miyun wasn’t in school when she went with Zhou Mi to the stadium, or with Kyuhyun to a studio. Or sometimes they all went together. She was still as bright and friendly a child as Zhou Mi had ever met. They were buddies, he and Miyun, ganging up on meanie Kyuhyun, or simply enjoying being together, the three of them as a family.
She had only recently started dropping the use of her childhood affectation of his name, Zhou Mimi, and whispering to him secretly, Baba. If he was allowed to have suspicions, he thought that was a bit Kyuhyun’s doing as well.
“Love you, Kyu,” Zhou Mi murmured, holding his lover, his best friend, tight. He cherished the simple happiness he saw in Kyuhyun’s eyes, the look he could conjure there no matter how hard or stressful things had been. They made each other better.
“Love you,” Kyuhyun said, pecking him on the lips before pushing up onto his feet. “Now get your butt out of bed.”
Zhou Mi followed, taking one more moment to cuddle Kyuhyun, pressing his lips to Kyuhyun’s neck and murmuring endearments that never ceased to make Kyuhyun flush with embarrassment. Even after all this time.
“Daddy, it’s breakfast time not cuddle time,” Miyun said from the door way, indulgently exasperated for at least the millionth time in her young life, before scrambling away as Kyuhyun shook a playful fist at her.
“It’s always cuddle time!” Zhou Mi shouted after her.
“You, me and the hot tub, tonight?” Kyuhyun offered.
Zhou Mi grinned against Kyuhyun’s mouth.
It sounded like a date he could keep.
***
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Date: 2009-10-17 01:57 am (UTC)every about this story was wonderful, how you showed the character development through the 8 chapters, how Kyuhyun evolved as a person, and how Zhou Mi fought with his insecurities about his relationship with him..
and the way you wrote the intimate scenes made the story really something. it wasn't rushed like " o.k a quick fuck and we're done" but it wasn't dragged on and on like " he did this, he said this, he did this while he did this.." do you get it? it wasn't like if i read to fast i would've missed it, and it wasn't paragraphs long, it was just the right amount of description.
and just GOSH! i loved every single chapter, took me 3 days to finished. mind you i only has an 2hrs each day, but i managed. and i can't believe i just discovered it, right when you posted your last chapter, but if i had seen it sooner i would've been jumping off the seat of my chair checking everyday if you'd updated.
kyuhyun's daughter was just to precious, how innocent she is and how she attacked "Zhou Mimi" when he came back. that moment made my throat close up, i really could've have cried.
o.k well that was a lot, and i could probably ramble on and on about why your story was so GREAT, but i think I've said enough.
i think I'll go fic stalk you know ^>^