SuJu Fic: Unnecessary Confessions Part Four
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine
“Teukie-hyung,” he says in a break on Sukira, “Dong Bang Shin Ki are back in two days.”
Leeteuk nods his head. “I heard. They’re back early in the morning, aren’t they?”
“Can we meet them?” Hyukjae bites his lip. He knows it will be a problem, and when they get there they’ll have to hide because the fans will be there, but he wants to surprise Junsu.
Leeteuk looks up from his phone and studies Hyukjae for a moment. Hyukjae worries his lip.
“I’ll talk to the Manager-Hyungnims about it,” Leeteuk says eventually. “But don’t hold your breath. It’ll be tricky enough getting there, let alone hiding from the fans and the press.”
“Thank you,” Hyukjae replies. “Thank you for at least trying.”
Leeteuk shrugs his shoulders. “I’ll try. Don’t thank me yet.”
Before they can say anything else, they’re told that the break is ending and they smile cheerfully and start talking again, as if Hyukjae’s mind isn’t on other, more pressing things.
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Hyukjae doesn’t know how Leeteuk does it, but the leader manages to okay Hyukjae to meet Dong Bang Shin Ki at the airport.
Just Hyukjae.
He tried to get it so that the rest of the boys, or at least himself and Heechul, could go and see them, but Management refused to allow them. But they’d said Hyukjae could go. It would be easier to hide one person anyway.
Hyukjae finds himself driving in a taxi (yeah-just an average-Joe taxi, not a chauffeured van or car) with a cold-mask over his face and a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. In a dress.
Heechul had somehow learnt that Hyukjae was meeting their friends, and after his initial annoyance at not being able to greet Yunho in person, he decided that the only way to truly hide Hyukjae’s identity was to dress him up as a girl. So he’d found a long black wig, tights, and a purple t-shirt dress with a built-in bust (they make those?! Also, who knows what Heechul was doing with that-probably best not to ask; at least it wasn’t a miniskirt), and had forced Hyukjae into them at about four this morning. And Hyukjae was too sleepy to protest. So that’s how he ends up in a taxi, nearing the airport, in girls’ clothing. The one saving grace is that Heechul knows that Hyukjae can’t walk in heels, and so had given him flat-soled shoes to wear. At least Hyukjae won’t fall over.
When they reach the airport he hands money quickly to the driver, and if the driver knows he’s just been driving Eunhyuk of Super Junior cross-dressing he doesn’t say anything.
He hurries into the airport. His watch says that it’s ten to five, which means he has time. He can relax.
He does no such thing when he discovers the scarily large number of Cassies waiting to welcome Dong Bang Shin Ki back to South Korea. The fear of any one of them recognising him (he’s in a dress, but these are the people who decided that the Mirotic dance spelt out “skin”, so he doesn’t doubt that someone will recognise him, even with the attempts at hiding who he is) is strong and he looks around him awkwardly, trying not to look like he is. He checks the plane schedule. The plane landed early, which means that rather than it landing at five, the boys collecting their luggage at about twenty past and leaving about half past, they’re collecting their luggage now. They’ll be out very soon.
When the fangirls start screaming he knows they’re there. It is only now he realises the flaw with Heechul’s disguise; how will Dong Bang Shin Ki recognise him? Leeteuk asked him to get a lift back with the boys. How will he if they don’t know who he is?
He senses Junsu before he sees him. He looks up, and there he is-almost better looking than he was when he left, or maybe that’s just the absence talking. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. He’s wearing a blazer (it’s Junsu’s thing, wearing blazers to fly in) and loose jeans and his hair is different-darker, he must have dyed it recently-and he looks very tired.
Hyukjae clenches his fists and steels his legs to stop himself from running over to him. He doesn’t even look at the other four members, just stays looking at Junsu. He’s missed him so much.
Junsu looks around-looking for something or someone, Hyukjae thinks. There’s a woman with him, a short woman in a pink skirt with long and glossy black hair, and she says something with a laugh and Junsu frowns. He scans the crowd and his eyes gloss over Hyukjae, looking past the boy and further along the line without a spark of recognition (well, why would he recognise Hyukjae like this?). He turns back to the woman and says something to her. They walk further along the corridor made by the fans, and the woman slows to talk to the people behind her-the assistants. When the fangirls start running to catch up with their idols, none of them paying any attention to the assistants, the woman turns and heads straight towards Hyukjae, to his surprise.
When she comes close Hyukjae realises she’s a young woman, barely older than him, and up close she’s pretty. “Konnichiwa,” she says, and he recognises her voice from that word alone. It’s Ayako. “I’m Watanabe Ayako. Come with me, please.” She turns without waiting for Hyukjae’s response and leads him out a side exit to the airport. She heads towards a minivan and indicates for Hyukjae to climb in. She follows him in.
They sit in silence for some time before she says, “Who are you? Junsu-sshi just told me to take you to the car, he didn’t tell me who you were.” When she says “sshi”, Hyukjae is surprised. He’s used to hearing the Japanese suffix. “Sshi” is a lot more formal and it sounds awkward when she says it.
“I don’t know how he recognised me,” he murmurs, without actually answering, but he supposes that even if they haven’t seen each other for months, they grew up with each other. They know how each other’s soul looks. If Junsu dyed his hair blond and wore a mask covering the entirety of his face, Hyukjae would know it was him. Sometimes best friends just know these things.
The door opens and Yunho clambers in, followed by Jaejoong. They blink owlishly at Hyukjae. “Who’s...?” Yunho murmurs. He shakes his head and sighs. Hyukjae thinks he should be offended, because if Yunho doesn’t know who he is, then something must be wrong.
Jaejoong cocks his head to the side and looks at Hyukjae for a moment before shaking his head and shoving Yunho to the far side of the van, the empty seat facing Hyukjae, and collapsing next to him. The van is pretty small compared to the Super Junior minivan. There are only two bench seats lining the back of the van. Ayako is sitting in the front next to the driver.
Yoochun and Changmin climb in next, also blinking at Hyukjae in confusion. Junsu’s signing some pictures, they say, and they wait for him to come back, but they don’t stop looking at Hyukjae with furrowed brows, trying to work out who she is. When they sit down, the two bench car seats become full. Hyukjae wonders where Junsu is going to sit. Maybe the floor, he thinks a little meanly.
Junsu kind of falls through the door a few minutes later. “So tired,” he murmurs. When he sees the chairs are all full he frowns.
Then he grins, and it’s an odd Cheshire Cat sort of grin. Hyukjae has seen it many, many times in the years he’s known Junsu. It means bad news.
Junsu smiles sweetly and bats his eyelashes at Hyukjae and indicates for him to stand. Hyukjae frowns at him and folds his arms. Junsu turns his best wounded puppy dog look on Hyukjae, who doesn’t really know, has admittedly never known, how to resist it. He stands obediently and lets Junsu duck behind him, clip on his seatbelt, and then pull Hyukjae down onto his lap.
Hyukjae makes a sort of girlish squeak and Junsu laughs, murmuring, “I’ve got you.” He wraps his arms around Hyukjae’s stomach as in proof, and kisses his cheek lightly. The other boys look at them in confusion but Junsu makes no effort to explain to them.
It’s comfortable, in an odd way, and Hyukjae finds himself lulled to sleep by the steady trundle of the engine and the quiet breathing of the van’s other occupants as they drive towards his friends’ dorm.
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