Three Questions and A Word
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Three Questions and A Word
leeteuk/heechul; one-shot; friendship
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“Do you really want to be a part of this group?”
Heechul fastened his eyes on his manager before he turned away. He made sure he was out of earshot before he dissolved into a condescending fit of laughter that went on even during his recounting of the story to Yunho and Jungsoo. The TVXQ leader laughed casually along with him, but his future leader in this prospective twelve-man “rotational” new group only smiled, and Heechul was quick to call it phony and suspicious.
“Well… you know going in that we’ll never be a permanent group, right? I think your manager has valid reasons to double check whether you’re okay with this Super Junior 05 project or not.”
“But I am, hyung!” he blurted out with exaggerated arm movements. “It’s experience, it’s a stepping stone to wider recognition-it’s all fine since I’ll no longer be just a trainee. I hate being a trainee!”
“But we’re done after a year. It’s unlikely they’ll have the two of us stay with the group, since we’re the oldest two and they’ll be needing fresh faces by then.”
“All the more reason for me to join, hyung. I don’t want being tied down to just one thing. I wanna act, I wanna do variety or radio, I wanna MC-I don’t want to just sing and dance all my life.”
“Well, if you say so…”
Jungsoo still held that same smile, and Heechul did not like it. So he decided that from then on, he’d not call Jungsoo “hyung” ever again.
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“Do you have a problem with your members?”
Heechul fixed his eyes on their manager before he turned away. He went back to bed, waited for the intrusive manager to walk out and shut the door, then slept for an hour and more, as if the past fifty hours of locking himself in his room were not enough. Donghae or Shindong would walk in from time to time to make sure he was eating (he was not), but other than them, the only animate things he saw were his cats.
He was roused by a loud thumping on the door. His brow quirked a little higher, and he labored to drag himself out of bed, stand up, open the door, and smack whomever this inconsiderate disturber turned out to be.
“Heechul, we need to talk.”
It was Leeteuk.
The agitated man tried his damned best not to hit the older man-but in his mind he couldn’t help but hurl on him every profane word in his book-and he felt relieved that he was able to control himself. He was not in his best physical condition to fight so he would not take chances, even if Leeteuk was not notorious for being brave and strong.
“What about?” he asked instead.
“This. This has got to stop, Heechul-ah.”
He stayed silent, prompting Leeteuk to continue his speech.
“Stop acting like a brat just because some fans didn’t like your singing.”
Heechul glared, and Leeteuk stepped back a little. “I’m not acting like a brat; don’t even call them “fans”; I don’t give a hoot about my singing.”
“Then what are you sulking about? You haven’t gone out of this room for days, and I know you too well to say you’ve not been eating your food.”
“I have.”
Leeteuk brightened. “Oh, have you?”
Heechul sighed inwardly and shut the door with a heavy thud. But before he drifted off to sleep again (which took him a rather long time), he heard Leeteuk still yelling like crazy from the outside (“Join the fancafe again! Fans are asking whether you’re dead, and you had better answer them!”) and he chortled quite a little.
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“Do you really want to leave?”
Heechul looked Leeteuk in the eye, and neither of them wavered for a moment.
“Talk to me first.”
The absence of cosmetics showed all the ragged lines and blemished blots all over Leeteuk’s face, and Heechul saw that sight of forgotten exhaustion that he had never wanted to see from his only hyung. He gulped; the irritation at the selfless man who liked taking care of his dongsaengs-their dongsaengs-crept through him; he could feel his voice coming out.
“If, hopefully, you’re still not decided-although I know you are… Heechul-ah, don’t leave…”
But this was what he had wanted for years. He knew he was done, now was the time to do what he had been meaning to do all those times; no one could stop him.
That was before Leeteuk-Jungsoo-spoke to him again, with earnest, in a whisper.
“…please.”
Heechul never left Super Junior.
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Um, I’m not sure where in the timeline of Super Junior is the third part supposed to fit, but I’m pretty sure this can tie nicely during the time after Hangeng left. They say it’s Eunhyuk who helped Heechul out of his depression, but I think Leeteuk (Jungsoo) had a great impact on him too.