Chapter Text
The empty mailbox should have been expected, but the disappointment still swept over him like the tide over the seashore. Ryeowook chewed his lip, hugging his books to his chest.
“Nothing?” A hand clapped him gently on the shoulder, and he looked up, shaking his head.
“You’ll get some, Ryeowookie. It just takes time.”
Easy for Kyuhyun to say. The only one that Ryeowook wanted had already been given, sitting in Kyuhyun’s hands with ‘From Lee Donghae’ written on the front of the envelope in neat handwriting. He let Kyuhyun wrap him up in a hug as they walked back to to house, leaning into Kyuhyun’s chest.
Kyuhyun still had not opened Donghae’s letter, though he had fretted over the edges so much that they were starting to curl up around the Lees’ family seal. He had come over the moment he received it, fizzling with excitement and nerves that he was like a Coke bottle that had been shaken up violently. Ryeowook had received him with hwachae because they were in the middle of summer and the berry pickings from his family’s orchard were so immense they could hardly eat them all. Kyuhyun had brought his letter, and flowers from his garden for Ryeowook’s mother which made her squeal with delight and pat his head. Sometimes, Ryeowook swore they loved Kyuhyun more than he did.
Still, it made him happy, that his family loved his best friend like he was a part of them. It got lonely sometimes, being the only child.
Ryeowook kept up a steady stream of chatter, hoping to distract his parents from realising that he had not yet received any courtship letters at all. Bless Kyuhyun, who had noticed at once, and hid his own in his pocket, even though it bent the corner of the envelope a little.
The letter was a thick one, a sheaf of papers spilling out over the bed when they finally managed to get away to Ryeowook’s room for Kyuhyun to break open the wax seal. Ryeowook sat on his heels, staring intently as Kyuhyun began to read, colour rising on his cheeks towards his ears until he was flushed like an English rose. It seemed like an age before he handed the first page over to Ryeowook wordlessly, picking up the second one. They read in silence for a long time, accompanied by the chirping of the bluebirds outside.
“He’s so romantic,” Ryeowook sighed dreamily after he finally put down the last page. The pages smelled like Donghae’s cologne, and he could see the care he put into every word; Donghae was a songwriter, and a romantic at heart. There were pressed flowers stuck to every other page and he had ended it with ‘hopefully, your love, Donghae’, a phrase that made Ryeowook bite down his squeal, even though the letter was not for him. “What will you say?”
“I don’t know,” Kyuhyun mumbled. “‘Yes, let’s court?”
“Kyu!” Ryeowook cried. “He spent so much time waxing poetic about your eyes and you’re going to reply with just that?”
“I’m bad with words,” Kyuhyun said, carefully stacking the pages back in order. “You know that.”
“I know, but it’s Lee Donghae,” Ryeowook gushed. He flushed when Kyuhyun eyed him, almost suspiciously, leaning over to bump his shoulder.
“I didn’t know you liked him so much.”
Kyuhyun did not know about the secret love letter, the only one that Ryeowook had sent two seasons ago that had Donghae turning up at his doorstep with an apology so heartfelt that Ryeowook could not even be mad at him.
If there was one secret Ryeowook would keep from his best friend, it would be his terrible, terrible crush on Lee Donghae.
Because he loved Kyuhyun too much to hurt him like that.
He had regretted the letter the moment it had left his hands, and it was with relief and grief that he received Donghae’s gentle rejection. Kyuhyun would have been devastated that he had gone behind his back to confess to the one crush he had since they were ten and eleven.
“He’s very sweet,” Ryeowook said carefully. “And you’ve liked him since we were kids, Kyuhyun ah. You can’t just reply with a ‘yes, let’s date’.”
“But I don’t know how to write poetry,” Kyuhyun whined. “Unless–.”
His eyes grew wide, and he chewed his lip, an expression that Ryeowook knew spelled trouble. And he was never wrong.
“Unless you wrote them for me!”
Kyuhyun’s eyes sparkled as he turned toward Ryeowook, hands clasped before his chest.
“I– what?”
“You can write my letters for me. Tell him how much I like him but in a pretty way. C’mon, Ryeonggu, your poetry’s always so beautiful.”
“But– but he likes you,” Ryeowook stammered, ignoring the pang that pierced his heart at those words. He knew, more than ever, because whenever he went out for lunch with Donghae, Kyuhyun was all he could talk about. It was Ryeowook’s own fault, because he had broached the topic and offered to help Donghae get closer to Kyuhyun once he learnt of Donghae’s crush. It had hurt, but Donghae had been so happy that Ryeowook managed to convince himself that it was worth it. And Kyuhyun would be happy too.
“He wouldn’t know,” Kyuhyun pleaded. “I want to impress him, Ryeowook ah.”
“He already likes you, Kyu. You don’t have to try so hard, just a few lines,” Ryeowook tried, but Kyuhyun was grabbing his hands, squeezing them hard. He was pouting, his eyes so wide and shiny like they held the entire Milky Way in them, and Ryeowook had always been weak for his best friend.
“Okay, okay. But you have to write a draft. I’ll edit it and fluff it up. You have to put in the effort, Kyu.”
“Yes, yes, thank you!”
Kyuhyun bounced so hard on his bed that the papers nearly spilt everywhere. Ryeowook caught them up, rescuing them before they could fly all over the room, as Kyuhyun whooped, so loudly that his mother peeked her head in the room to see what it was all about.
He smiled at Kyuhyun’s joy, but a tiny seed of worry had been planted in his belly.
Why did he have a feeling that something was about to go wrong?