{foreign territory - pt.3}
title: Foreign Territory - Part 3 of a few.
author: ascoliasm
pairing: hankyung/kibum {friendship}
rating: pg-13
genre: i never know.
summary: Chinese package named Hankyung gets flown to Seoul, no Korean included. Kibum is quietly racist. Heechul is the flatmate in the middle, kind of like a mediator, but for the living
a/n: for the 100 super junior fics challenge. um. So. Hopefully you guys can all just ignore the fact that the last time I posted anything was about a month ago. Okay, all lateness aside, there was a gap of about 3 weeks in my writing part 2 and this part, and I think the style changed a little bit, and I lost my idea for characterisation somewhere in that time so it's like I wrote something entirely new. It gets a little nonsensical near the end, can you tell I got stuck? ;-;
{part one} {part two}
Three weeks later Kibum lets out the breath he’s been holding for the last three weeks. He’s spent every second waiting with bated breath for Heechul to come flouncing back into his room screaming bloody murder because Han Geng had jumped off a cliff, but he hasn’t, and Kibum assumes that he’s either gotten himself a life or found something better to do than point out things that are Kibum’s fault (it doesn’t really matter to him, since they’re both one and the same). Beyond the quiet whirring of his laptop starting up he can hear muffled footsteps moving up and down the hallway - Heechul’s been staying at Siwon’s for the last week, Kibum deduces that Han Geng must be leaving soon.
It surprises him a little that Han Geng is even at the dorm this late, the most Kibum’s heard from him recently is the sound of his body, worn and exhausted, falling into bed at 3 in the morning, the sound of teeth being brushed not four hours later, and his hand turning the key in the lock as he leaves for his morning training session. He starts to feel something horrifyingly akin to sympathy when the loudest crash he’s heard in his entire life drags him back down to earth - quite literally, he’s fallen off his chair - and he jumps up, bursting into the hallway ready to run from any potential bombings. Fortunately, the building hasn’t been bombed, but unfortunately he trips over a pile of Chinese boy lying on the floor and smacks his head against the opposing wall. It’s not a good day.
When Kibum is finally done wincing and holding a hand to his head, staggering for his balance he realises that Han Geng is still lying on the floor - potentially critically injured, the hallway isn’t that wide and Kibum knows he took more than a few steps on something soft - looking more like a zombie than anything in any horror movie he’s ever seen.
“You look disgusting,” Kibum comments before he realises he even opened his mouth. He blames it on the stars whirling around his head.
There’s a pause in which Han Geng pushes himself into a kneeling positiong and turns his head slowly to Kibum.
“ I mean, I didn’t mean your face is disgusting - well that is what I meant but-,” Kibum cuts himself off and groans pathetically. There’s little chance that Han Geng understands any of this word vomit since Kibum himself doesn’t, so he settles for something simpler. “You look tired.”
Tired has actually got to be the understatement of the century, he thinks to himself. The dark circles under his eyes border on looking like punch bruises, his skin is so pale he could make an entire new brand of extra white printing paper and his collar bones are showing through his skin a little more than should be healthy, Korean or not.
“I feel a little tired,” Han Geng manages a small smile as he pulls himself off the floor. “I’m fine though.” The quiet undertone of pain in his voice doesn’t escape Kibum’s ears. He follows Han Geng into the kitchen and sits with him as he rests his forehead in his hand. They’re both surprised, but it’d be a little awkward to say anything about it, so they opt for silence instead.
“Maybe, you should go back to China.”
Kibum isn’t really surprised to discover that it’s his own voice suggesting it. It’s stupid, he thinks because they don’t even know each other well so who is he to be giving life advice? He worries a little that Han Geng might have taken it the wrong way, because on reflection it kind of sounded like ‘get out of my country, scum’, which wasn’t the way he’d meant it at all. His worries are quenched however, when Han Geng removes his hand from his face and he can see a sad smile playing across his face.
“I might.”
Kibum looks around wildly, as if he’s going to find the cause for his feeling of relief hanging from the ceiling, because what the hell, it’s not ‘oh my goodness, finally, my life goes back to normal’ kind of relief, but more like ‘you’ll probably feel better at home’ relief and since when did he care about how Han Geng felt?
“I don’t want to give up,” - Kibum snaps back to attention - “but it’s hard. I knew the training would be hard but I didn’t realise it would be so hard to-“ Han Geng pauses, Kibum knows he can’t find the word he wants - “friend,” he finishes, looking hopefully at Kibum, and Kibum gets it, because that’s the exact same thing he thought back in America.
“There’ll be another time. It’s not like you can’t come back if you go home now. Heechul will always be happy to beat anyone up who tries to take your room here,” Kibum says, only half joking.
Han Geng doesn’t respond (possibly because he doesn’t know how), and instead changes the subject. “Heechul told me you spent a few years in America. He said it might be your reason for being a, di-“ Hankyung frowns as he tries to recall the word (Kibum knows what it is and almost laughs because Han Geng would probably be so sorry if he knew what he was about to call him), “a dickhead?” Kibum almost manages to stop his burst of laughter, but not quite, and it comes out kind of like he’s spitting. “ ‘He’s only being a dick because he doesn’t want you to go through what he went through, he just doesn’t know that.’, that’s what Heechul said,” Han Geng quotes, looking at Kibum with a degree of amusement. “Is that true?”
The spitting stops as abruptly as it started and Kibum stares at him like he just turned into his mother. He’s never thought of it that way before. He’s dimly aware of Han Geng realising he’s late and asking him if it’s okay to say he got lost since there were no Chinese signs, less aware of hearing the door fall shut behind him as he runs (well, drags himself) towards the elevator.
Then his phone is out and he’s texting Heechul a thousand times telling him to come back right now, you conniving bastard.
author: ascoliasm
pairing: hankyung/kibum {friendship}
rating: pg-13
genre: i never know.
summary: Chinese package named Hankyung gets flown to Seoul, no Korean included. Kibum is quietly racist. Heechul is the flatmate in the middle, kind of like a mediator, but for the living
a/n: for the 100 super junior fics challenge. um. So. Hopefully you guys can all just ignore the fact that the last time I posted anything was about a month ago. Okay, all lateness aside, there was a gap of about 3 weeks in my writing part 2 and this part, and I think the style changed a little bit, and I lost my idea for characterisation somewhere in that time so it's like I wrote something entirely new. It gets a little nonsensical near the end, can you tell I got stuck? ;-;
{part one} {part two}
Three weeks later Kibum lets out the breath he’s been holding for the last three weeks. He’s spent every second waiting with bated breath for Heechul to come flouncing back into his room screaming bloody murder because Han Geng had jumped off a cliff, but he hasn’t, and Kibum assumes that he’s either gotten himself a life or found something better to do than point out things that are Kibum’s fault (it doesn’t really matter to him, since they’re both one and the same). Beyond the quiet whirring of his laptop starting up he can hear muffled footsteps moving up and down the hallway - Heechul’s been staying at Siwon’s for the last week, Kibum deduces that Han Geng must be leaving soon.
It surprises him a little that Han Geng is even at the dorm this late, the most Kibum’s heard from him recently is the sound of his body, worn and exhausted, falling into bed at 3 in the morning, the sound of teeth being brushed not four hours later, and his hand turning the key in the lock as he leaves for his morning training session. He starts to feel something horrifyingly akin to sympathy when the loudest crash he’s heard in his entire life drags him back down to earth - quite literally, he’s fallen off his chair - and he jumps up, bursting into the hallway ready to run from any potential bombings. Fortunately, the building hasn’t been bombed, but unfortunately he trips over a pile of Chinese boy lying on the floor and smacks his head against the opposing wall. It’s not a good day.
When Kibum is finally done wincing and holding a hand to his head, staggering for his balance he realises that Han Geng is still lying on the floor - potentially critically injured, the hallway isn’t that wide and Kibum knows he took more than a few steps on something soft - looking more like a zombie than anything in any horror movie he’s ever seen.
“You look disgusting,” Kibum comments before he realises he even opened his mouth. He blames it on the stars whirling around his head.
There’s a pause in which Han Geng pushes himself into a kneeling positiong and turns his head slowly to Kibum.
“ I mean, I didn’t mean your face is disgusting - well that is what I meant but-,” Kibum cuts himself off and groans pathetically. There’s little chance that Han Geng understands any of this word vomit since Kibum himself doesn’t, so he settles for something simpler. “You look tired.”
Tired has actually got to be the understatement of the century, he thinks to himself. The dark circles under his eyes border on looking like punch bruises, his skin is so pale he could make an entire new brand of extra white printing paper and his collar bones are showing through his skin a little more than should be healthy, Korean or not.
“I feel a little tired,” Han Geng manages a small smile as he pulls himself off the floor. “I’m fine though.” The quiet undertone of pain in his voice doesn’t escape Kibum’s ears. He follows Han Geng into the kitchen and sits with him as he rests his forehead in his hand. They’re both surprised, but it’d be a little awkward to say anything about it, so they opt for silence instead.
“Maybe, you should go back to China.”
Kibum isn’t really surprised to discover that it’s his own voice suggesting it. It’s stupid, he thinks because they don’t even know each other well so who is he to be giving life advice? He worries a little that Han Geng might have taken it the wrong way, because on reflection it kind of sounded like ‘get out of my country, scum’, which wasn’t the way he’d meant it at all. His worries are quenched however, when Han Geng removes his hand from his face and he can see a sad smile playing across his face.
“I might.”
Kibum looks around wildly, as if he’s going to find the cause for his feeling of relief hanging from the ceiling, because what the hell, it’s not ‘oh my goodness, finally, my life goes back to normal’ kind of relief, but more like ‘you’ll probably feel better at home’ relief and since when did he care about how Han Geng felt?
“I don’t want to give up,” - Kibum snaps back to attention - “but it’s hard. I knew the training would be hard but I didn’t realise it would be so hard to-“ Han Geng pauses, Kibum knows he can’t find the word he wants - “friend,” he finishes, looking hopefully at Kibum, and Kibum gets it, because that’s the exact same thing he thought back in America.
“There’ll be another time. It’s not like you can’t come back if you go home now. Heechul will always be happy to beat anyone up who tries to take your room here,” Kibum says, only half joking.
Han Geng doesn’t respond (possibly because he doesn’t know how), and instead changes the subject. “Heechul told me you spent a few years in America. He said it might be your reason for being a, di-“ Hankyung frowns as he tries to recall the word (Kibum knows what it is and almost laughs because Han Geng would probably be so sorry if he knew what he was about to call him), “a dickhead?” Kibum almost manages to stop his burst of laughter, but not quite, and it comes out kind of like he’s spitting. “ ‘He’s only being a dick because he doesn’t want you to go through what he went through, he just doesn’t know that.’, that’s what Heechul said,” Han Geng quotes, looking at Kibum with a degree of amusement. “Is that true?”
The spitting stops as abruptly as it started and Kibum stares at him like he just turned into his mother. He’s never thought of it that way before. He’s dimly aware of Han Geng realising he’s late and asking him if it’s okay to say he got lost since there were no Chinese signs, less aware of hearing the door fall shut behind him as he runs (well, drags himself) towards the elevator.
Then his phone is out and he’s texting Heechul a thousand times telling him to come back right now, you conniving bastard.