[ficlets] hero complex, the world can wait, & don't think about it
These are all posted on AFF/AO3 under the collective name Infinite Spectrum, which is why that tag is now the designated ficlet dump tag. The tag name is from Infinite's performance at the 2014 MAMAs, and has no bearing on the actual contents. I just needed a name and it fitted well enough c:
Title: hero complex
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): Woohyun/Sunggyu
Length: 699 words
A/N: Loosely based off the Fire Emblem series.
Woohyun winced, trying not to flinch away when Sunggyu dabbed salve on his wound. He’d tried to talk Sunggyu out of it-it wasn’t particularly severe, and they had to use their supplies sparingly-but Sunggyu insisted, as usual. While Woohyun appreciated his concern, he still thought it was unnecessary.
“Shouldn’t we be saving this for something bigger?” Woohyun tried again, although Sunggyu went on ignoring him. “What if we run out just when we need the supplies to save someone’s life? This really isn’t-”
“Because fighting with an injured arm is hardly going to endanger your life,” Sunggyu answered dryly. “We can spare this much salve, Your Highness. Please try to remember that your safety is paramount.”
Woohyun sighed, knowing full well that arguing with Sunggyu when he went into overzealous retainer mode was absolutely useless. “Let me guess, you’re going to tell me to stay off the battlefield from now on. Again.”
“Actually, no, Your Highness. I’ve done that so many times that I know it’s useless. Nowadays I settle for making sure you don’t get mortally injured doing something overly reckless.” Sunggyu put down the salve and reached for the bandages. “Though if you would consent to remove yourself from the battlefield, that would be the best for all of us.”
“Well, what kind of commander would I be if I did that?” Woohyun asked lightly. “I have to ride at the frontlines. You know that as well as me.”
“If you would appoint someone else as commander, Your Highness, you wouldn’t need to,” Sunggyu snapped. “Can you remember for once in your life that you’re a prince and you have a kingdom to return to? Your life doesn’t just belong to you, Your Highness, you need to realise-”
Woohyun cut Sunggyu off midsentence, breathing in the gasp against his mouth. Sunggyu’s eyes were wide when Woohyun pulled away, but at the very least, he wasn’t trying to run away-though Woohyun wasn’t sure whether it was because he was finally getting used to this, or because he was in the middle of bandaging Woohyun’s arm. “I know that,” he said softly. “I do realise I’m responsible for more than just my own life. But I can’t just stand back. Still, that’s what I have you for, right?” Woohyun tried for a smile, reaching up to caress the back of Sunggyu’s neck. Sunggyu still had pieces of his armour on; in the dying campfire, the royal crest emblazoned on the metal seemed to come to life. “Thank you. I owe you my life-I know that, too. I couldn’t be who I am if it wasn’t for you.”
“I’m your knight,” Sunggyu answered quietly. “It’s my duty.” He lowered his head, going silent as he finished bandaging Woohyun’s arm. Woohyun half-expected Sunggyu to leave, but he just turned away instead, staring quietly into the campfire.
“I’m sorry,” Woohyun finally said, after several long moments of silence. “I know I don’t make this easy for you. But this is where I need to be.”
Sunggyu chuffed lightly, leaning forward on his elbows. The firelight caught his hair, scattering lines of red and gold in his brown hair. “Don’t apologise. If I couldn’t handle you, I would have stepped down and had someone more capable take my place. You’re fine just the way you are.” Woohyun saw Sunggyu hesitate briefly, but then he reached over, lightly laying his hand on Woohyun’s newly-bandaged arm. “Though, of course, I do wish that my charge had less of a hero complex.”
“Hero complex?” Woohyun repeated indignantly. Sunggyu’s answering laugh caught him off-guard-and the kiss even more so. Woohyun froze when he felt Sunggyu’s lips against his, only remembering to respond belatedly when Sunggyu slid his arm around his waist. It was rare for Sunggyu to initiate, considering he still had misgivings about their difference in status, but maybe he was finally coming around.
Sunggyu lingered close even after they parted, his breath brushing over Woohyun’s cheek. “Don’t die, Woohyun,” he whispered. Woohyun sighed, leaning in and pressing their foreheads together.
“You won’t let me, anyway.”
Sunggyu was, after all, the one person Woohyun could trust with his life.
Title: the world can wait
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): Myungsoo/Sungyeol
Length: 466 words
Myungsoo wakes up slowly. He’s surrounded by warmth, a cocoon of blankets and morning sunlight on his back; he sighs contentedly, burrowing deeper into his pillow. He loves Saturdays.
The pile of blankets next to him shifts, and Myungsoo feels an arm snake around him, ruffling the hair at the back of his head affectionately. “Hey, idiot. It’s almost eleven.”
“Does that matter?” Myungsoo keeps his eyes closed, though he can’t stop the smile from spreading when the hand migrates upwards, messing up his hair further. Sungyeol’s in a really good mood today, because he’s not even poking at Myungsoo to get out of bed so they can get breakfast. Myungsoo sighs again, pressing up into the touch slightly. Sungyeol laughs at that, but doesn’t move away.
“You’re like a cat when you do that.” Sungyeol doesn’t sound like he minds at all, though. Myungsoo feels him shifting again, the bed sinking down as he slides closer, and opens his eyes just a sliver.
Sungyeol’s smile, he thinks, has to be the best thing to wake up to in the morning.
Sungyeol leans in, and Myungsoo kisses him lazily. It’s long and slow and gentle, exactly Myungsoo’s favourite kind of kiss. He’s finally beginning to wake up a little, responding a little more vigorously to Sungyeol’s advances. Sungyeol pulls away from the kiss after a few moments, but before Myungsoo can launch a protest, he’s moving down to his neck, peppering it with light kisses.
Myungsoo laughs (because it tickles), and Sungyeol’s answering laugh sends warmth through him. Myungsoo tilts his head back up, leaning down awkwardly to kiss him again, tangling their feet together.
“Let’s not get out of bed yet,” he whispers, pressing their foreheads together. Sungyeol’s much better about cuddles in the morning-possibly because it’s a new day and so his cuddle quota has been reset-and Myungsoo intends to take full advantage. True to that, Sungyeol doesn’t say no. He actually pulls Myungsoo closer, smiling.
“A little bit longer,” he agrees.
Some days Myungsoo feels like he loves Sungyeol so much his heart could burst from it. He doesn’t say it, though-he settles for smiling instead, the one that he reserves just for Sungyeol, the one that says I love you more than anyone else in the world and that Sungyeol knows means just that. “You’re amazing,” he says sincerely.
“Then cook me breakfast when we actually do get out of bed,” Sungyeol replies without missing a beat. But he nuzzles a little closer, tightens his grip on Myungsoo, and his words are clear enough without him saying anything.
Myungsoo snuggles in closer, content. The world can wait; right now, there’s just Sungyeol and warm blankets and peace, just the way he wants it. Nothing else can be more perfect.
Title: don't think about it
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): Woohyun/Sungyeol
Length: 924 words
“Aren’t you afraid, sometimes?”
Woohyun doesn’t bother to turn his head when he hears Sungyeol speak, downing another shot of soju instead. They’re nowhere they should be (hiding out by the Han River when they’re supposed to be asleep with soju they shouldn’t have bought) and Woohyun doesn’t want to think about that, so he doesn’t. “Depends,” he answers, resting his forearms on his knees. “What do you mean by that?”
Sungyeol shrugs, fumbling for the bottle and pouring himself another shot. “Don’t know. Of the future, I guess.”
“Which future?” Woohyun asks before he can catch himself, but decides to fuck that and go on-he’s feeling pleasantly warm despite the cold wind and honestly, he doesn’t even know Sungyeol that well, but he wanted to drink and Woohyun wanted to drink and they both wanted out of the dorm and that’s all that matters. “The one where we never debut? The one where we debut and everyone forgets us anyway? The one where we debut and get famous and everyone loves us for awhile, but then-in the end-we get thrown aside and forgotten all over again?”
He’s expecting some caustic reply about his negativity, or even an admonishment about it, but that just proves he’s been hanging around Dongwoo and Howon (should he be calling him Hoya?) too much, because Sungyeol does neither. He’s just quiet, though Woohyun hears his glass clink against the bottle and assumes he put it down. “All of them?” he offers, and Woohyun turns around then. Sungyeol’s face is a little flushed, and he’s staring straight ahead. “I… well, I don’t really know. I’m not sure.”
“Is there anything you’re sure of?” Woohyun asks, but realises he sounded a little too sharp when Sungyeol flinches. He doesn’t apologise anyway.
“Not much,” Sungyeol replies quietly. Woohyun notices how his words aren’t slurred at all, even though he’s been drinking as much as Woohyun. Brow furrowing, Woohyun reaches for Sungyeol’s shot glass-it’s empty, so he refills it and shoves it into Sungyeol’s hand.
“Drink, then.”
Sungyeol blinks, turning around to look at him. Woohyun impatiently gestures at his glass, clinking it against his own. “Drink. If you’re not really sure of anything, drink until you are.”
“I don’t think that will help,” Sungyeol replies, tone dry. But he downs the shot anyway, and Woohyun smiles. “You’re a weird drunk, Woohyun.”
“I’m not drunk. And that’s hyung to you.” Woohyun turns back to stare at the river again. It’s pitch black at this time of the night, the lights from the opposite shore drifting lazily in the water.
“Your words are merging into each other-what’s that called? Whatever. You’re drunk.”
“Shut up, Sungyeol.”
Sungyeol actually does, surprisingly. Woohyun hears him put his glass down again, and huffs out a sigh. Clearly, he won’t take Woohyun’s advice.
“Do you ever feel afraid?” The silence only lasts a few seconds longer before Sungyeol breaks it again. Then again, Woohyun knew he would. He gives a half-shrug in reply, leaning back as far as he can while still staying upright, supporting himself with his arms.
“Of course.” Woohyun’s not sure there are any days where he’s not afraid anymore-afraid of never moving beyond where he’s standing right now, afraid of stepping forward and finding out he’s not good enough (he already knows he doesn’t sing as well as Sunggyu or dance as well as Hoya or look as good as Myungsoo) and that he’ll be forgotten, cast away, ignored. He doesn’t know anymore.
“So what do you do?” Sungyeol’s voice is hardly more than a whisper. Woohyun sighs loudly, flopping backwards onto the grass. When he stares up at the sky, there are no stars. The city lights are too bright.
“I don’t think about it.”
“But then aren’t you still afraid when you wake up the next day?” Why does Sungyeol have so many questions? Woohyun rolls over, narrowing his eyes at him.
“Yes. Then I don’t think about it again. That’s all. Pour me some soju.”
“Your manners get worse when you’re drunk, too.” Sungyeol obliges, though, and Woohyun mutters a vague thank you when he feels the shot glass being pushed into his hand. He downs it in one go, determined to go on drinking until he can’t think anymore.
The managers will kill them (even though they’re nobodies right now one day they’ll be somebodies, they keep saying, and then things like these can’t get out) and they have practice at five tomorrow and it’s so far past midnight Woohyun has no idea what time it is, but he doesn’t want to go back to the too-small dorm that’s stifling in all the dreams the six other boys his age share (with him). He just wants to forget for one night and not think about it and tomorrow-tomorrow, he’ll dance and sing and work out and pretend tonight never happened. Because Woohyun knows he needs to be perfect and what he’s doing right now doesn’t fit into that neat box.
“Don’t drink anymore. I’m not carrying you back to the dorm.” For some reason, that makes Woohyun laugh. Maybe Sungyeol’s right-he’s drunk.
“Whatever. Whether they find us here or in there, we’re dead. Just don’t think about it.”
Sungyeol laughs softly. “Okay. I won’t.” He pauses briefly, then adds, “Thank you, hyung.” Woohyun thinks that was rather sudden-where did it come from?-but decides not to ask.
He sighs, blinking up at the dark, starless sky, and doesn’t think about it.
Title: hero complex
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): Woohyun/Sunggyu
Length: 699 words
A/N: Loosely based off the Fire Emblem series.
Woohyun winced, trying not to flinch away when Sunggyu dabbed salve on his wound. He’d tried to talk Sunggyu out of it-it wasn’t particularly severe, and they had to use their supplies sparingly-but Sunggyu insisted, as usual. While Woohyun appreciated his concern, he still thought it was unnecessary.
“Shouldn’t we be saving this for something bigger?” Woohyun tried again, although Sunggyu went on ignoring him. “What if we run out just when we need the supplies to save someone’s life? This really isn’t-”
“Because fighting with an injured arm is hardly going to endanger your life,” Sunggyu answered dryly. “We can spare this much salve, Your Highness. Please try to remember that your safety is paramount.”
Woohyun sighed, knowing full well that arguing with Sunggyu when he went into overzealous retainer mode was absolutely useless. “Let me guess, you’re going to tell me to stay off the battlefield from now on. Again.”
“Actually, no, Your Highness. I’ve done that so many times that I know it’s useless. Nowadays I settle for making sure you don’t get mortally injured doing something overly reckless.” Sunggyu put down the salve and reached for the bandages. “Though if you would consent to remove yourself from the battlefield, that would be the best for all of us.”
“Well, what kind of commander would I be if I did that?” Woohyun asked lightly. “I have to ride at the frontlines. You know that as well as me.”
“If you would appoint someone else as commander, Your Highness, you wouldn’t need to,” Sunggyu snapped. “Can you remember for once in your life that you’re a prince and you have a kingdom to return to? Your life doesn’t just belong to you, Your Highness, you need to realise-”
Woohyun cut Sunggyu off midsentence, breathing in the gasp against his mouth. Sunggyu’s eyes were wide when Woohyun pulled away, but at the very least, he wasn’t trying to run away-though Woohyun wasn’t sure whether it was because he was finally getting used to this, or because he was in the middle of bandaging Woohyun’s arm. “I know that,” he said softly. “I do realise I’m responsible for more than just my own life. But I can’t just stand back. Still, that’s what I have you for, right?” Woohyun tried for a smile, reaching up to caress the back of Sunggyu’s neck. Sunggyu still had pieces of his armour on; in the dying campfire, the royal crest emblazoned on the metal seemed to come to life. “Thank you. I owe you my life-I know that, too. I couldn’t be who I am if it wasn’t for you.”
“I’m your knight,” Sunggyu answered quietly. “It’s my duty.” He lowered his head, going silent as he finished bandaging Woohyun’s arm. Woohyun half-expected Sunggyu to leave, but he just turned away instead, staring quietly into the campfire.
“I’m sorry,” Woohyun finally said, after several long moments of silence. “I know I don’t make this easy for you. But this is where I need to be.”
Sunggyu chuffed lightly, leaning forward on his elbows. The firelight caught his hair, scattering lines of red and gold in his brown hair. “Don’t apologise. If I couldn’t handle you, I would have stepped down and had someone more capable take my place. You’re fine just the way you are.” Woohyun saw Sunggyu hesitate briefly, but then he reached over, lightly laying his hand on Woohyun’s newly-bandaged arm. “Though, of course, I do wish that my charge had less of a hero complex.”
“Hero complex?” Woohyun repeated indignantly. Sunggyu’s answering laugh caught him off-guard-and the kiss even more so. Woohyun froze when he felt Sunggyu’s lips against his, only remembering to respond belatedly when Sunggyu slid his arm around his waist. It was rare for Sunggyu to initiate, considering he still had misgivings about their difference in status, but maybe he was finally coming around.
Sunggyu lingered close even after they parted, his breath brushing over Woohyun’s cheek. “Don’t die, Woohyun,” he whispered. Woohyun sighed, leaning in and pressing their foreheads together.
“You won’t let me, anyway.”
Sunggyu was, after all, the one person Woohyun could trust with his life.
Title: the world can wait
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): Myungsoo/Sungyeol
Length: 466 words
Myungsoo wakes up slowly. He’s surrounded by warmth, a cocoon of blankets and morning sunlight on his back; he sighs contentedly, burrowing deeper into his pillow. He loves Saturdays.
The pile of blankets next to him shifts, and Myungsoo feels an arm snake around him, ruffling the hair at the back of his head affectionately. “Hey, idiot. It’s almost eleven.”
“Does that matter?” Myungsoo keeps his eyes closed, though he can’t stop the smile from spreading when the hand migrates upwards, messing up his hair further. Sungyeol’s in a really good mood today, because he’s not even poking at Myungsoo to get out of bed so they can get breakfast. Myungsoo sighs again, pressing up into the touch slightly. Sungyeol laughs at that, but doesn’t move away.
“You’re like a cat when you do that.” Sungyeol doesn’t sound like he minds at all, though. Myungsoo feels him shifting again, the bed sinking down as he slides closer, and opens his eyes just a sliver.
Sungyeol’s smile, he thinks, has to be the best thing to wake up to in the morning.
Sungyeol leans in, and Myungsoo kisses him lazily. It’s long and slow and gentle, exactly Myungsoo’s favourite kind of kiss. He’s finally beginning to wake up a little, responding a little more vigorously to Sungyeol’s advances. Sungyeol pulls away from the kiss after a few moments, but before Myungsoo can launch a protest, he’s moving down to his neck, peppering it with light kisses.
Myungsoo laughs (because it tickles), and Sungyeol’s answering laugh sends warmth through him. Myungsoo tilts his head back up, leaning down awkwardly to kiss him again, tangling their feet together.
“Let’s not get out of bed yet,” he whispers, pressing their foreheads together. Sungyeol’s much better about cuddles in the morning-possibly because it’s a new day and so his cuddle quota has been reset-and Myungsoo intends to take full advantage. True to that, Sungyeol doesn’t say no. He actually pulls Myungsoo closer, smiling.
“A little bit longer,” he agrees.
Some days Myungsoo feels like he loves Sungyeol so much his heart could burst from it. He doesn’t say it, though-he settles for smiling instead, the one that he reserves just for Sungyeol, the one that says I love you more than anyone else in the world and that Sungyeol knows means just that. “You’re amazing,” he says sincerely.
“Then cook me breakfast when we actually do get out of bed,” Sungyeol replies without missing a beat. But he nuzzles a little closer, tightens his grip on Myungsoo, and his words are clear enough without him saying anything.
Myungsoo snuggles in closer, content. The world can wait; right now, there’s just Sungyeol and warm blankets and peace, just the way he wants it. Nothing else can be more perfect.
Title: don't think about it
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): Woohyun/Sungyeol
Length: 924 words
“Aren’t you afraid, sometimes?”
Woohyun doesn’t bother to turn his head when he hears Sungyeol speak, downing another shot of soju instead. They’re nowhere they should be (hiding out by the Han River when they’re supposed to be asleep with soju they shouldn’t have bought) and Woohyun doesn’t want to think about that, so he doesn’t. “Depends,” he answers, resting his forearms on his knees. “What do you mean by that?”
Sungyeol shrugs, fumbling for the bottle and pouring himself another shot. “Don’t know. Of the future, I guess.”
“Which future?” Woohyun asks before he can catch himself, but decides to fuck that and go on-he’s feeling pleasantly warm despite the cold wind and honestly, he doesn’t even know Sungyeol that well, but he wanted to drink and Woohyun wanted to drink and they both wanted out of the dorm and that’s all that matters. “The one where we never debut? The one where we debut and everyone forgets us anyway? The one where we debut and get famous and everyone loves us for awhile, but then-in the end-we get thrown aside and forgotten all over again?”
He’s expecting some caustic reply about his negativity, or even an admonishment about it, but that just proves he’s been hanging around Dongwoo and Howon (should he be calling him Hoya?) too much, because Sungyeol does neither. He’s just quiet, though Woohyun hears his glass clink against the bottle and assumes he put it down. “All of them?” he offers, and Woohyun turns around then. Sungyeol’s face is a little flushed, and he’s staring straight ahead. “I… well, I don’t really know. I’m not sure.”
“Is there anything you’re sure of?” Woohyun asks, but realises he sounded a little too sharp when Sungyeol flinches. He doesn’t apologise anyway.
“Not much,” Sungyeol replies quietly. Woohyun notices how his words aren’t slurred at all, even though he’s been drinking as much as Woohyun. Brow furrowing, Woohyun reaches for Sungyeol’s shot glass-it’s empty, so he refills it and shoves it into Sungyeol’s hand.
“Drink, then.”
Sungyeol blinks, turning around to look at him. Woohyun impatiently gestures at his glass, clinking it against his own. “Drink. If you’re not really sure of anything, drink until you are.”
“I don’t think that will help,” Sungyeol replies, tone dry. But he downs the shot anyway, and Woohyun smiles. “You’re a weird drunk, Woohyun.”
“I’m not drunk. And that’s hyung to you.” Woohyun turns back to stare at the river again. It’s pitch black at this time of the night, the lights from the opposite shore drifting lazily in the water.
“Your words are merging into each other-what’s that called? Whatever. You’re drunk.”
“Shut up, Sungyeol.”
Sungyeol actually does, surprisingly. Woohyun hears him put his glass down again, and huffs out a sigh. Clearly, he won’t take Woohyun’s advice.
“Do you ever feel afraid?” The silence only lasts a few seconds longer before Sungyeol breaks it again. Then again, Woohyun knew he would. He gives a half-shrug in reply, leaning back as far as he can while still staying upright, supporting himself with his arms.
“Of course.” Woohyun’s not sure there are any days where he’s not afraid anymore-afraid of never moving beyond where he’s standing right now, afraid of stepping forward and finding out he’s not good enough (he already knows he doesn’t sing as well as Sunggyu or dance as well as Hoya or look as good as Myungsoo) and that he’ll be forgotten, cast away, ignored. He doesn’t know anymore.
“So what do you do?” Sungyeol’s voice is hardly more than a whisper. Woohyun sighs loudly, flopping backwards onto the grass. When he stares up at the sky, there are no stars. The city lights are too bright.
“I don’t think about it.”
“But then aren’t you still afraid when you wake up the next day?” Why does Sungyeol have so many questions? Woohyun rolls over, narrowing his eyes at him.
“Yes. Then I don’t think about it again. That’s all. Pour me some soju.”
“Your manners get worse when you’re drunk, too.” Sungyeol obliges, though, and Woohyun mutters a vague thank you when he feels the shot glass being pushed into his hand. He downs it in one go, determined to go on drinking until he can’t think anymore.
The managers will kill them (even though they’re nobodies right now one day they’ll be somebodies, they keep saying, and then things like these can’t get out) and they have practice at five tomorrow and it’s so far past midnight Woohyun has no idea what time it is, but he doesn’t want to go back to the too-small dorm that’s stifling in all the dreams the six other boys his age share (with him). He just wants to forget for one night and not think about it and tomorrow-tomorrow, he’ll dance and sing and work out and pretend tonight never happened. Because Woohyun knows he needs to be perfect and what he’s doing right now doesn’t fit into that neat box.
“Don’t drink anymore. I’m not carrying you back to the dorm.” For some reason, that makes Woohyun laugh. Maybe Sungyeol’s right-he’s drunk.
“Whatever. Whether they find us here or in there, we’re dead. Just don’t think about it.”
Sungyeol laughs softly. “Okay. I won’t.” He pauses briefly, then adds, “Thank you, hyung.” Woohyun thinks that was rather sudden-where did it come from?-but decides not to ask.
He sighs, blinking up at the dark, starless sky, and doesn’t think about it.