genetics | Super Junior: Exothermic Bonds For Dummies (Reply)

Title: Exothermic Bonds For Dummies
Author:

papered
Fandom: Super Junior
Characters/Pairings: Kyumi, ninja!Sihanchul
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 4536
Summary: high school!AU. In which Kyuhyun has a crush on a certain transfer student, and Sungmin and Heechul are Helpful.
Notes: Written for

kyukick for the Miracle Fic Exchange at

miracle_ss.

"Hurry up and admit it already – you like him."

"Hyung!" Kyuhyun protested, a frown on his face. "Stop saying that! I don't!"

"Of course you do. You've been keeping an eye on him ever since he transferred in at the beginning of term." Sungmin gave him a smile, pulling him into a hug and ignoring his protests. "It's okay, Kyuhyunnie – just listen to me, I'll help you get him."

"Help him get who?"

Kyuhyun groaned. The person he least wanted to see right now. If Sungmin was bad, Heechul was a million times worse.

"Zhou Mi, that transfer student from China," Sungmin told Heechul in a conspiratorial voice as he pulled the redhead into the seat next to them. Turning to Kyuhyun, he grinned. "As your hyungs, it's our duty to make sure you do something to move this forward."

"There is nothing to move forward! I don't like Zhou Mi."

"You sound like a thirteen year old girl denying her first crush," Heechul informed him helpfully.

"Hyung!"

Sungmin patted him on the shoulder. "There there, don't be embarrassed. We'll both be around to help things along, so don't worry about it too much."

Unfortunately, that was exactly what he was worried about.

No matter how much Sungmin nagged him about it, it really wasn't the case of denying a crush. Just because Zhou Mi was not completely unattractive didn't mean Kyuhyun actually liked him. He was annoying, for one, and he smiled too much, and he was too tall and cheerful and nice to everyone.

It's not until two weeks later, when his choir teacher invites the senior soloist in during class to do a vocal demonstration that Kyuhyun actually gives the matter any serious thought. When Zhou Mi walks in and starts singing (a Chinese song that's strangely familiar, but the title escapes him), Kyuhyun is forced to concede that Sungmin might have a point after all.

Well. Shit.

If Kyuhyun had had any choice about the matter, no one would have known anything about his newfound revelation. Unfortunately, Sungmin had this uncanny ability to find out exactly what you didn't want him to know. Taking one glance at Kyuhyun's expression when Zhou Mi walked by their lunch table and smiled in greeting, Sungmin grinned, looking far too pleased. "I was right, wasn't I."

Fabulous. "Shut up, hyung. This is all your fault."

"Aww," Sungmin exclaimed before pulling Kyuhyun into another one of his spontaneous hugs, and Kyuhyun couldn't find the energy to pull away. "It's okay – at least you're not in denial anymore. We'll have a nice long talk with Heechul tonight and figure something out."

Kyuhyun resisted the urge to bury his face in his arms.

cinderella says (8:30 PM): I have an idea.
sungmin says (8:30 PM): let's hear it!
kyuhyun says (8:30 PM): oh god. I am so not listening to this.
kyuhyun has signed off (8:30PM).
kyuhyun has signed on (8:34PM).
kyuhyun has been added to the conversation (8:35PM).
kyuhyun says (8:35 PM): okay what's the idea >:/

"Why do I have to do this again?"

"Because you're hot for Zhou Mi and want to get into his pants," Heechul said blandly. A woman nearby turned and gave them a scandalized look before pulling her children closer to her and walking off quickly.

"Keep your voice down!" Kyuhyun hissed, feeling his cheeks burn.

"Stop embarrassing him, Heechul," Sungmin scolded. "I know you have no shame to speak of, but we're in public right now. Plus, we're supposed to act as moral support, not scare him off before we even get to the salon." He turned and gave Kyuhyun an encouraging sort of smile. "We're almost there, Kyuhyunnie."

Kyuhyun was already regretting having ever agreed to this – but there was no way he could back out now. No matter how nice Sungmin generally looked, he was no pushover, and Heechul could probably drag the school principal to a gay bar if he actually felt like it. Kyuhyun really didn't stand a chance.

With a sigh, he chose to give in gracefully, and let himself be dragged the rest of the two blocks to the salon.

"Well," Sungmin said, eyebrows raised.

"I am a genius," Heechul announced.

Kyuhyun fidgeted under their gaze, wishing they would hurry up and say something and put him out of his misery already. "Well, what?"

"If Hannie and Siwon weren't so good in bed, I'd be trying to get into your pants right now," Heechul informed him.

Kyuhyun flushed.

Sungmin swatted Heechul on the arm. "Oh, just ignore him, Kyuhyun. But he has the right idea – your hair looks fabulous." His gaze lingered appreciatively. "Is that a shade of blond I see there?"

"Zhou Mi's going to love you," Heechul cackled.

Heechul's plan worked, as in, it certainly caught Zhou Mi's attention.

Heechul's plan failed, in that not only did it catch Zhou Mi's attention, it also caught everyone else's. Kyuhyun had always been fairly popular with girls (not that he'd shown any interest in response), but he now had to deal with perfect strangers just about throwing themselves at him everywhere he went. It made for a very uncomfortable week.

"Stop complaining," Heechul told him during lunch. "You should feel blessed that you now look like a sex god – and have me to thank for it."

Zhou Mi chose that moment to walk by and compliment him on his hair, and Kyuhyun could feel his cheeks burn and knees go weak.

"I am so screwed," he mumbled into Sungmin's shoulder later.

"God, stop before you make me throw up," Heechul said.

cinderella says (9:36 PM): so. seasoning. do you have a girlfriend?
觅虎~ says (9:38 PM): um. no?
cinderella says (9:38 PM): boyfriend?
觅虎~ says (9:39 PM): nope. :X
cinderella says (9:39 PM): okay. good. because kyuhyun has a not-so-secret crush on you, and he's driving everyone crazy, so you'd better do something about it, understand?
觅虎~ says (9:40 PM): kyuhyun? as in, cho kyuhyun from junior choir? the one who got a new haircut?
觅虎~ says (9:41 PM): ... ohmygod.
cinderella says (9:41 PM): exactly, him. now don't tell me you have some kind of secret desire to get into his pants too, because that would be just perfect.
觅虎~ says (9:41 PM): ... maybe?
cinderella says (9:42 PM): perfectly sickening.

cinderella says (9:47 PM): I deserve an award
sungmin says (9:47 PM): did it work?
cinderella says (9:47PM): of course it did – it was my plan, wasn't it?
cinderella says (9:48 PM): and apparently, it's not all one-sided either
sungmin says (9:48 PM): seriously?
sungmin says (9:49 PM): ... oh my god that's so cute.
sungmin says (9:49 PM): our kyuhyunnie's all grown up now~ :'D
cinderella says (9:49 PM): wtf, why do I even know you

sungmin says (9:52 PM): do you think kyuhyun's going to kill us when he finds out about this
cinderella says (9:52 PM): he'll be too busy thanking us on bended knee

"I am the greatest genius ever," Heechul announced as he settled himself down between Sungmin and Kyuhyun at the lunch table. "I'm so great, they should be throwing the Nobel Prize at my feet."

Kyuhyun sighed loudly. "What is it now?"

"Yah, is that any way to talk to your hyung?" Heechul frowned at him. "Especially the hyung who just got you a date?"

He nearly choked on his mouthful of water. "What? "

"Zhou Mi needs a chemistry tutor, so I volunteered you. His house, after school tomorrow."

"What? But I'm just a junior! How am I supposed to tutor him?"

Heechul snorted loudly. "Right. Says the person who got the same score as Siwon on a math exam. Everyone agrees that you're an academic freak of nature, so stop being modest. It makes me want to gag."

Sungmin patted Kyuhyun on the shoulder. "You'll see, you'll be fine. You're the one taking all the impressive after-school classes, after all."

Kyuhyun sighed and thought that really, he should be used to this by now.

As it turned out, Zhou Mi was completely hopeless in chemistry. He didn't know the difference between basic exothermic and endothermic reactions, and trying to explain the concepts to him was one big nightmare. Fifteen minutes into their session, Kyuhyun was well past the blushing-every-half-a-minute stage and far into the ready-to-strangle-something stage. Kyuhyun wasn't exactly the most patient person in the world, and crush or not, trying to tutor Zhou Mi was like pounding nails into a cement block.

By the end of two hours, he had a headache the size of China.

"How did you even manage to pass all of your chemistry classes before now?"

"I don't know, everything's just harder in Korea!" Zhou Mi whined, grabbing onto Kyuhyun's arm. "Don't abandon me, Kui Xian! I need your help!"

"I told you to stop calling me that!"

Zhou Mi just held on tighter like an octopus with too many limbs, his pleading eyes ridiculous on someone his age.

"Alright, fine," Kyuhyun huffed. "When's your next exam?"

"Wednesday."

"What? That's next week!" Kyuhyun resisted the urge to scream. "Okay. If you really want to pass, come over to my house after dinner tomorrow, and I'll see what I can do. Now let me go so I can breathe."

"So. How's everything going with Zhou Mi?" Sungmin grinned at him over lunch, leaning closer to hear his reply. "Any progress?"

Kyuhyun just closed his eyes. "He is the most infuriatingly dim person I've ever had the displeasure of working with."

Sungmin raised an eyebrow. "Zhou Mi? Really?"

"YES. He literally doesn't know anything." Taking a vicious bite out of his sandwich, he chewed on the bread with renewed vigor. "God, why do I even like him. He's such a moron."

Bent over his food, he failed to see the amused look Sungmin shot over his head, and the smirk Heechul gave in response.

"Kui Xian!"

Kyuhyun found himself with an armful of long limbs as the spoon he'd been holding went flying and a heavy weight settled itself onto his legs. "What the hell," he grumbled, and tried but failed to push the lapful of Chinese boy off. "What are you doing?"

Zhou Mi continued on like he hadn't heard him. "Thank you thank you thank you! I passed my chemistry exam! You're the best tutor ever."

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and tried to pretend he was unaffected by the other's happy mood. "Congratulations, hyung. Now get off me, you're bony."

If anyone found it strange that Zhou Mi suddenly became a regular fixture at Kyuhyun's lunch table, no one showed it. The older boy had randomly settled himself down one day after his chemistry exam grade had been released, and while Kyuhyun found it a little odd, Sungmin behaved as if it was normal occurrence, so he'd quickly shrugged it off. And of course, with both Heechul and Zhou Mi now at their table, Hankyung and Siwon soon followed suit.

"It's Han Geng's birthday next week, and Heechul and I are holding a party for him," Zhou Mi told him one day, with a smile Kyuhyun thought was too wide for his face. "Are you going to come?"

Kyuhyun shrugged, then nodded, because if Heechul was going, Sungmin was going, and it wasn't like he had anything else planned. "Where at?"

"That new bar that opened up downtown."

Kyuhyun carefully raised an eyebrow. "Bar? We're all underage."

Heechul chose this moment to push his way onto the already-crammed table. Hearing his response, he turned and gave Kyuhyun a do-I-look-like-I-care roll of the eyes. "I know the bartender there – they'll let us in."

Sungmin looked disbelievingly at him. "Wait, and how is Siwon going to go? He'll never agree to this."

"He can't disagree if he doesn't know where we're going until we're there," Heechul snapped, then took a sip out of Kyuhyun's soda without asking. "And no one's here's going to even think about telling him, of course."

Of course. Kyuhyun sighed, tried not to laugh at Heechul's harebrained ideas, and ducked to avoid the swipe at the back of his head. ("Yah! Don't roll your eyes at your hyung!")

Hankyung's birthday turned out to a much bigger event than Kyuhyun had originally anticipated. True to his word, Heechul hadn't had any trouble getting them into the bar – in fact, the number of people he managed to get in was a little surprising. Seeing Hankyung and Heechul head immediately to the dance floor with a horrified Siwon in tow ("Hyung! How could you do this? This is illegal!") and Sungmin chatting with some classmate or another, Kyuhyun settled himself down at an empty stool.

Four hours and two unwilling dances later (it was all Sungmin's fault), Kyuhyun was downing the last sips of his glass of alcohol when he heard a distinctly familiar whine from a few seats down. "He shouldn't be allowed to have that shirt on!"

Internally going what the hell, Kyuhyun turned to see a mostly-drunk Zhou Mi hanging off Heechul. Being farther away, the redhead's response was lost in the music, but then Zhou Mi's voice continued. "Life is so not fair. And stop laughing at me!"

Heechul sighed in obvious irritation and, to Kyuhyun's growing worrying, dragged Zhou Mi over to Kyuhyun's seat. "I need to go find Hannie, and Seasoning won't let me go. Here, he's your problem now," was all the information he was given before a stumbling Zhou Mi was thrown into his arms.

Wondering how he got into situations like this, Kyuhyun exhaled loudly before pulling the older boy in the general direction of the exit. "Okay, you're going home, right now. I'm not carrying you, so hurry up and walk properly!"

"Don't want to," Zhou Mi mumbled, arms flailing, head pressed against Kyuhyun's shoulder, and it was annoying and disgusting and Kyuhyun certainly did not find the sight adorable, not at all.

Finally making it out of the bar in one piece, he barely had time to sigh in relief before suddenly remembering. Groaning, he turned to Zhou Mi. "Hankyung told me earlier that most of you are staying over with him today, but I forgot to ask him for his address. I don't suppose you remember in this state?"

Zhou Mi shook his head cheerfully.

"Oh god, what is wrong with you people?" Grabbing the older boy so that he didn't walk off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic, Kyuhyun could feel a migraine coming on. "Why do I even know you? Now, you stay here, and don't move, while I go back in and figure out where you're going, and if you're gone by the time I get back, I'm going to – mmph!"

He was abruptly cut off by Zhou Mi's lips pressing against his own, and Kyuhyun had to unfreeze and discretely pinch himself twice to make sure that no, he wasn't dreaming, and the annoying idiot he'd been secretly (or, not-so-secretly, thanks to Heechul) crushing on since the beginning of term was actually kissing him.

Pulling back, Zhou Mi grinned at him as if he hadn't just stuck his tongue down someone's throat. "I like your shirt, Kui Xian."

Kyuhyun stared, disbelieving. "I – Did you just kiss me?"

Zhou Mi nodded happily. "Mhmm. And I'll do it again if you don't stop dancing with strangers."

"What? What are you talking about, Sungmin's not a stranger –" Kyuhyun began, then stopped and shook his head. "Nevermind. You know what? You're all completely insane."

By the time Kyuhyun managed to ask Siwon for Hankyung's apartment (he was one of the few people who wasn't completely drunk by then, and Kyuhyun didn't envy his job of getting everyone home) and hail a cab, it was well after 2am. Pushing Zhou Mi into one of the sleeping bags that had been lying in the hall, Kyuhyun was too tired to protest when Zhou Mi refused to let him go and insisted on him staying the night too.

Leaving a message that he would be staying over at a friend's place on the answering machine (his mother would see it in the morning), Kyuhyun grabbed himself an extra sleeping bag and settled himself down a respectable distance away from Zhou Mi and went to sleep.

In the middle of the night, he was startled awake by a body hitting him in the side. Blinking blearily, Kyuhyun sighed – it looked as if Zhou Mi had managed to roll his way over, sleeping bag and all, and was now pressed up right next to him. The older boy slept on obliviously, letting out a snore every once in a while.

Needless to say, he didn't get a lot of sleep after that.

"Kui Xian?"

"Hm?"

"About last night. I- I think I owe you an apology. I didn't mean to do that."

"Oh," Kyuhyun said. "I –"

"I'm really sorry; I didn't know what I was doing. But there was something I wanted to tell – "

"No, it's fine," Kyuhyun told him, cutting him off. "I understand."

He told himself later in the refuge of his classroom (away from Zhou Mi), that he wasn't disappointed, really. Because Zhou Mi meaning to kiss him would have been too easy, and life just didn't work that way.

"What the fuck happened between you and Zhou Mi?"

Kyuhyun didn't take his eyes off his reading. "Hmm? What are you talking about, hyung?"

"Don't give me any of that," Heechul snapped, slamming Kyuhyun's textbook shut. "Sungmin might have let you go, but you're not off the hook. Yah, look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Kyuhyun exhaled loudly and made himself look up. Heechul raised an eyebrow expectantly. "I told you, hyung – nothing happened."

"Right, and Siwon and Hankyung and I are nothing more than friends." The redhead rolled his eyes. "Zhou Mi's been acting like a kicked puppy ever since Hankyung's birthday, and I suggest you do something about it."

"What do you mean, do something about it?" Kyuhyun turned, actually a little angry now. "That's his problem, not mine, and it's not my responsibility to figure out what's wrong with him."

"You're the one who likes him!"

"And who said I still do?"

There was a sudden silence.

Visibly calming himself down, Kyuhyun sighed. "Look, I know you mean the best, hyung, but it's true – I don't like Zhou Mi anymore. And I have my physics exam in an hour, so could you just leave me alone for a bit?"

Heechul looked at him exasperatedly before standing up. "Fine, we'll talk about this later," he tossed over his shoulder before walking off.

Great. Later. Preferably never.

"Later" turned out to be an appointment with a locked storage room on the other side of the school.

"What the fuck, hyung!" Kyuhyun yelled, honestly furious now, and kicked at the door.

"Kui Xian –" Zhou Mi started, putting a hand on his shoulder, but Kyuhyun resolutely shook him off.

"Since you're both too pigheaded to talk reasonably out here, you're staying locked up in there until I'm satisfied," came Heechul's voice. "Class is out, so no one will be here until tomorrow morning, earliest. We can be here all night if you want."

"God, I hate you so much," Kyuhyun told him.

"I know you do." He could hear Heechul's smirk even through a wooden door. "Now, Hannie's taking me out to dinner, so I'll be back in a few hours. You two have fun."

Hearing the fading footsteps, Kyuhyun threw himself onto the ground.

"Kui Xian –"

"Look, I really don't want to hear it. It's been a long day – I just want to go home. Can we just wait until Heechul comes back?"

Zhou Mi settled down next to him. "You heard him though – he's not going to let us go until we talk."

"There's nothing we need to talk about."

"Yes there is! I don't understand why you've been acting like this since Han Geng's birthday!"

"Acting like what?"

"Like you hate me!"

Kyuhyun was not in a forgiving mood. Unfortunately, he was also known for being a little thoughtless when he was like this. "Oh? And what if I do?"

Zhou Mi suddenly froze. "What?"

"What if I do I hate you?"

There was no response.

Well, good. Kyuhyun settled himself down against the wall, closing his eyes, and told himself that he had no reason to feel guilty at all.

"Fuck, are you crying?" Kyuhyun asked half an hour later, when he couldn't stand the strained silence anymore.

"No," came the sullen response, followed by what was distinctly a sniffle.

Kyuhyun swore under his breath, then forced himself to get up. "Zhou Mi?"

"Leave me alone."

Well. He'd certainly managed to mess this up spectacularly, hadn't he. Suppressing a groan, he walked over to the other side of the room and sat down awkwardly. "I'm sorry. I – I didn't mean to say that."

The other boy wiped furiously at his eyes and laughed a little hysterically. "Now that we all know what you think of me, you can stop pretending."

This was the first time he'd ever seen Zhou Mi as anything other than his usual smiling, forgiving self. "No, I – that's not it! That's not what I meant!"

"But at least tell me why. Did you really hate my kiss that much?"

"I – what?"

Zhou Mi sighed and finally looked up at him. "I guess it doesn't really matter if I tell you now. I've had a crush on you ever since I got here, and Heechul was telling me that you liked me too."

"... what?"

"Obviously, he was completely wrong. Don't worry – I'll leave you alone from now on."

Kyuhyun gaped at him. "Wait, you like me? Since the start of term?"

There was a mental Heechul calling him an idiot right now.

"It's not my fault Heechul wouldn't stop going on about how hot and available you were," Zhou Mi grumbled, a hint of a whine back in his voice. "You should blame him too."

Kyuhyun waited for the world to stop spinning before opening his mouth again. "Um. What if I told you Heechul-hyung wasn't wrong?"

Zhou Mi looked exasperated. "I know you're hot and single, Kui Xian. It's not like that makes any difference, since you hate me."

"No, not that." Kyuhyun could feel himself flushing. "What he said, before that. He wasn't wrong."

"What are you talking about? He just said you – oh. Oh."

There was a short silence.

"You like me?" Zhou Mi asked, and Kyuhyun could hear a hint of that annoying smile back in his voice.

"And I might have actually told you if you hadn't gone on about how sorry and regretful you were the next morning."

"I wasn't regretful! I was apologizing for molesting you without asking!" Zhou Mi pouted at him. "And I was going to tell you too, but then you cut me off and started treating me like I had cooties, and what was I supposed to assume? And then, when I tried to talk to you, you told me that you hate me, and then you made me cry, and Kui Xian, why are you so mean to me?~"

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. "God, you're such a girl," he told him.

When Zhou Mi opened his mouth to protest again, Kyuhyun kissed him to shut him up.

"I'm the best hyung ever," Heechul announced at the lunch table two days later. "You should both be my personal slaves for a week to show me how grateful you are."

Sungmin grinned and turned to Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi cheerfully. "I'm glad it all worked out for you guys."

Kyuhyun suppressed a smile. He wouldn't admit this on pain of death, mostly because Heechul would never get over himself again, but maybe it was kind of necessary to have someone like Heechul around.

Zhou Mi gave one of his wide grins, and grabbed Kyuhyun's hand under the table. Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, but let him.

Just as the bell rang, announcing the end of lunch, one of the other boys from Zhou Mi's year came over. "Mimi, thank you so much!" Donghae said, waving round a few pieces of paper and looking like he'd consumed far too much sugar. "I got over 80% on my chemistry exam, and it's all thanks to you!"

Zhou Mi accepted his enthusiastic hug. "Congratulations! But here, let's see what you did wrong anyway." Failing to see the increasingly puzzled look on Kyuhyun's face, he snatched up the paper and flipped through it. "Oh, I see! It's nothing big – you just got your phenol and benzene mixed up. If you'd done that properly, you would have gotten the last problem too."

"Thank you, hyung! You're the best!"

Handing the paper back, Zhou Mi happily started packing up for his next class.

"Zhou Mi."

"Hmm?" Seeing Kyuhyun's expression, Zhou Mi looked a little confused.

"That. Was chemistry."

"Mhmm? What's wrong?"

Kyuhyun stared at him. "What the hell, how do you know know what the difference between phenol and benzene is? You don't even know the chemical symbol for hydroxyl!"

"Oh. Oh. I – Um."

Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow, unrelenting.

Somewhere in the background, Heechul was dying from laughter.

The second bell rang, and Zhou Mi shrank back. "Um. Kui Xian? Can I explain later? I have an exam this block – I can't be late."

"Alright, fine. But don't think you're off the hook. I'll talk to you later." Rolling his eyes, Kyuhyun tossed his apple core in the direction of the garbage can before gathering up his own books as well.

And because Zhou Mi looked far too worried than he had any right to look, Kyuhyun sighed, pulled him into a hug and whispered a quick "good luck" before turning and walking off to his own class.

kyuhyun says (9:52 PM): wait, so you lied about not understanding chemistry so that I would talk to you?
觅虎~ says (9:52 PM): don't be mad at me! ;O; it was heechul's idea. he told me it was your best subject!
cinderella says (9:53 PM): admit it, it was a brilliant idea.
kyuhyun says (9:53 PM): wait, so you were pretending not to understand what an acid was?
觅虎~ says (9:53 PM): ;__________;
sungmin says (9:53 PM): zhoumi's actually the best chemistry student in our year, kyuhyunnie. :D you should be proud.
kyuhyun says (9:54 PM): wtf
kyuhyun says (9:54 PM): why do I even put up with you
觅虎~ says (9:55 PM): because you love me? ;__;
觅虎~ says (9:55 PM): forgive me, please?
觅虎~ says (9:55 PM): 我爱你~ <3
觅虎~ says (9:56 PM): :x If you were C6, and I were H12, all we would need is the air we breathe to be sweeter than sugar?*
sungmin says (9:56 PM): aww!
kyuhyun says (9:56 PM): ... you are such a girl
cinderella says (9:57 PM): I think I'm going to be sick

*glucose sugar molecular formula: (C6H12O6)