Super Junior AU; Various Pairings; Love/War
Title: Love/War (17/?)
Fandom: Super Junior AU (Mafia)
Pairings: Siwon/Hankyung/Heechul (Hankyung/Heechul), Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kangin/Eeteuk, Tablo/Eunhyuk
Pairings in Chapter: Kangin/Eeteuk, Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi, implied Tablo/Eunhyuk
Word Count: 3,821
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The Kim family and the Choi family are the two oldest families in Seoul: where other families have been born, grown, and then fell apart, they remain strong. Unfortunately, they are mortal enemies, and where one lives alongside the law, the other is beyond any control. It's up to the new generation of members to destroy the violence between them - even if it means destroying one family in the process.
A/N: I can see the end \o/ Unfortunately, seeing the end and getting to the end are two very different things kjajksdlajsd
Fabled ex-chapter 16 :|
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter 17
“I can’t believe this is happening,” said Eeteuk.
“Yeah,” murmured Kangin.
“No,” said Eeteuk. “I cannot believe this is happening.”
Kangin looked at him: his eyes were wild, hands pressed desperately to the table as if hoping for some sort of balance. He was shaking slightly. “Hey,” said Kangin, and hugged him, arms tight around his shoulders. “Hey, calm down, would you? We need you.”
“He’s gone,” said Eeteuk, a shrill quality to his voice. “Someone has kidnapped Eunhyuk from right under our noses!”
“We don’t know that for certain,” said Kangin, though he knew that they did.
“How did it happen?” Eeteuk pushed him away, collapsed onto a chair. “How the fuck did someone get into the estate and kidnap him? For fuck’s sake, Kangin, we’ve got guards for a reason!”
“I know,” said Kangin, frowning a little as he realised that his voice was soothing - thank god no one else was around for this. “I’ve sent Hankyung down to see if they saw anyone, or let anyone in. They’d have needed ID - full ID, real ID, to get in.”
“What if it’s a Choi?” Eeteuk was suddenly struck again. “What if it’s revenge for letting their heir join our family?”
“If a Choi had tried to enter, we would have been notified,” said Kangin. “God, Eeteuk, since when was I the one who thought about things before I spoke?”
“You’re right,” said Eeteuk. “You’re right, I should calm down, I should just - oh my fucking god, Donghae. We have to tell Donghae that his cousin is gone. Sungmin too - Sungmin, he’ll be - Kangin, Donghae’s grasp on reality can be feeble at the best of times, this will just knock him over the edge.”
Kangin was silent - he agreed with that, he couldn’t come up with anything to counter it. Telling Donghae that his cousin, the one who sat with him and played video games with him, the one who had done the most to raise him from the mires of his past, was gone, and they didn’t know where he was - it could be disastrous.
“We’ll have to make sure Kibum is no where around when we do,” said Kangin softly. “Make sure that Sungmin is there.”
“We’ll have to start looking for him,” said Eeteuk, suddenly firm, suddenly taking control. “Once we know whether anyone came in or not, we can start asking around the locals to find out if they saw anyone suspicious. Tell Heechul that I’d like him to start the investigation into his disappearance.”
“Heechul?” Kangin raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that letting Heechul have control over something which requires dealing with the public is a good idea?”
“I think it is,” said Eeteuk softly. “I think it will take his mind off what happened.”
“You think he-”
“I think they both did.”
“Shit.” Kangin put an arm around Eeteuk’s shoulder, the movement granting comfort to both of them. “I mean, I know Heechul likes to act like he knows everything, but they really didn’t know, did they?”
“Heechul hates the Choi family. If he’d known that Siwon was their heir, it’s more likely that he’d have shot at him, not let him into his relationship with Hankyung.”
“Sometimes I think he hates them more than Donghae does,” said Kangin.
“It’s because of Hankyung,” said Eeteuk. “You know how he gets with Hankyung.”
“Well that makes sense,” said Kangin, sighing heavily. He rested his chin on Eeteuk’s head, aware that however uncomfortable and awkward he found silence, Eeteuk would need it to be able to think through what needed to be done. Kangin was good with getting things done - Eeteuk was good with the ideas part.
There was a knock at the door, quiet, almost hesitant. “Come in,” called Kangin, and stepped away from Eeteuk, who remained deep in thought.
It was Sungmin; he pushed the door open and then looked like he wanted to do nothing more other than bolt out. “Um,” he said, eyeing Eeteuk nervously. “Can I - talk to you?”
“Oh,” said Eeteuk softly at Sungmin’s voice, and looked up sadly. “Yes, of course you can.”
“It’s about Eunhyuk,” said Sungmin as he came into the room and stood in front of the desk, fingers fiddling with a piece of paper that he held in his hands.
“You’ve heard?” asked Eeteuk softly.
“I’ve heard,” said Sungmin with a tense nod. “I’ve heard that you think he’s been kidnapped. Hyung - that’s not true.”
Eeteuk frowned at him, lifting his head a little, confused. “What do you mean? Sungmin, do you know something about this?”
Sungmin nodded again. “Eunhyuk left me a note,” he said. “I just found it in my room.”
“A note? Then he knew what was going to happen?”
“He hasn’t been kidnapped. He’s run away.”
Eeteuk stared at him, mouth falling open. Kangin sat down heavily. “What?” he asked hoarsely.
“I - Eunhyuk was seeing someone.”
“Seeing someone? Like, dating someone?” Sungmin nodded. “Why didn’t we know?”
“He kept it a secret.” Sungmin hesitated. “Hyung, I really - didn’t want to tell you about this. It was supposed to be - I was the only one who was supposed to know. Even Donghae doesn’t know as much as I do.”
“What is it, Sungmin? Why couldn’t he tell us?”
Sungmin hesitated again. “Hyung, I don’t want to tell you if it will get Eunhyuk into trouble - that’s the last thing I want.”
“Tell us, Sungmin, or else we can’t help!” Kangin said, exasperated.
“He was going out with a police officer.”
“He was what?”
“He was going out with a police officer.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know!” said Sungmin, suddenly sounding like he was about to cry from frustration. “All I know is that his name is Tablo, but I think that Eunhyuk gave me a nickname. He’s planned this, hyung. He’s planned this!”
“What do you mean, planned it?”
“Don’t you see? I told him to break it off with this guy ages ago, while he still could, and he told me that he had, but he actually didn’t; or, if he did, then he’s changed his mind. He heard about Siwon, and saw that while we were furious about who he really was, it was the lying that pissed us off the most. He couldn’t lie to us any longer, hyung!”
“So he’s - run away.” Eeteuk stood up, a little shaky. “But he can’t - god, Kangin, he knows everything about this family! He could tell anyone anything! Oh fuck-” He sat down heavily and put his head back in his hands.
“Get me Heechul and Shindong,” said Kangin. Sungmin looked slightly confused, but then nodded and left the room. Kangin sighed and rubbed his thumbs over the back of Eeteuk’s neck, hands on his shoulders. “This family is falling apart,” he said.
“I don’t understand any of it,” said Eeteuk, voice muffled.
“This family was better off under my father,” said Kangin.
Eeteuk slowly raised his head, and then turned to glare at Kangin. “Don’t say that,” he said in a low voice. “Don’t ever say that. You’ve been the ruler of this family since before I was even here, whether it was in name or not. This has got nothing to do with you or your father. These are just - freak occurrences.”
“No one even run away when my father was in charge,” said Kangin, pulling his chair over and sitting down heavily.
“And I’m fairly certain that no one ever fell in love with a police officer when your father was in charge,” said Eeteuk. “It’s not your fault, Kangin. It’s no one’s fault.”
“What do we do with Eunhyuk?” asked Kangin. “We can’t just leave him, surely.”
“He knows too much,” said Eeteuk. “He knows all the family secrets, he knows all the passwords and account numbers. We can’t leave him but - Kangin, what do we do with him? He’s still part of this family, isn’t he?”
“Is he?” Kangin sounded doubtful. “Didn’t he forfeit that right when he left us?”
“This is a disaster,” said Eeteuk. “I don’t understand. How could he do this to us?”
“I don’t understand either,” admitted Kangin quietly.
There was a knock at the door, and Shindong came through, Heechul strolling along behind him. “This had better be good,” said Heechul with an annoyed flick of his hair. “I was just about to go threaten a couple of drug lords.”
“What do you want?” asked Shindong, choosing not to bitch like Heechul.
“Cancel your appointment with the drug dealers, Heechul,” said Kangin, standing up, hand brushing over Eeteuk’s neck again. “I need the both of you to get started on something new.”
“What?”
“I need you to research someone for me,” said Kangin. “Heechul, because you know everyone, and Shindong, because you have contacts in the police force.”
“Who?” Shindong suddenly looked a lot more interested.
“Some guy called Tablo. We don’t think that’s his name, but that’s all we’ve got. A police officer. Ask Sungmin, he might know more about him. Right now, I don’t even know his age, what he looks like, where exactly he lives - we think he owns a flat in the center, but that could just be a meeting place.”
“Why are we looking into this guy?” asked Heechul, looking confused. “What’s he got to do with us?”
“He’s the one that Eunhyuk’s ran away to,” said Kangin. Shindong and Heechul frowned at him.
“I thought Eunhyuk was kidnapped,” said Shindong.
“No,” said Eeteuk, shaking his head as he spoke for the first time. “He hasn’t been kidnapped. He’s run away.”
“He’s run away?” Heechul sounded like he couldn’t work out whether to be astonished or gleeful at the scandal.
“Heechul,” said Kangin warningly. Heechul just rolled his eyes at him.
“So he’s run away to be with his fuck-buddy or whatever,” he said. “That’s his decision, surely.”
“Not when we don’t know who this guy is,” said Kangin. “He could just be using Eunhyuk to get at the Kim family. We don’t know what’s going on any more than you do, so we just need you to find out about this guy before we go blazing in with guns fully drawn.”
“You take the fun out of being in the mafia,” said Heechul, looking annoyed, but he followed Shindong out of the room anyway without any further protest, and Kangin trusted him enough to know that he would find out.
***
Zhou Mi found Kyuhyun in Donghae’s room, sitting on a chair near the bed as Donghae slept. After Donghae had been told that Eunhyuk had gone (Sungmin had asked Eeteuk to do it, he hadn’t felt like he could do that), Donghae had seemed fine for around ten minutes, but once the realisation had sunk in, he’d turned to Sungmin, standing in the corner, and remarked calmly that he didn’t seem to know anyone completely.
After that, Donghae had gone completely silent, bringing his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees, eyes dull. They had had the idea of leaving him to it, but when Eeteuk asked him something, and Donghae didn’t give any recognition that he had heard, Kangin had placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him a little to wake him up. That had proven a mistake, as something inside Donghae snapped, and he had cried out and pushed Kangin away desperately.
“Donghae!” said Kangin loudly, trying to take hold of him. “Donghae, it’s me!”
“Get away from me,” yelled Donghae, twisting and turning to get away; Kyuhyun had put his hand on his back to calm him down, and Donghae had turned on him, throwing a careless arm out to hit him, one that Kyuhyun only just managed to duck. “Don’t touch me, I don’t want to-”
He sank to the floor, sobbing hysterically; Sungmin tried to hug him but Donghae fought even against him, even as tears streamed down his face. “Leave me alone,” he screamed. “I don’t - I can’t - leave me alone.”
“Lee Donghae!” shouted Heechul, and slapped him across the face. He later said to Hankyung that it at least stopped the yelling, though it didn’t stop the crying, and it certainly didn’t bring Donghae back to the present time: he went limp, body suddenly bereft of energy, not talking or looking at anyone. He didn’t protest when Kangin pulled him to his feet, and didn’t protest when he took him back to his own bedroom. He simply lay on the bed and eventually slept. Kyuhyun had stayed with him.
“How is he?” asked Zhou Mi, coming in quietly. He hadn’t been around at the time, but clearly he had been told, from the way he looked nervously at Donghae and then placed a hand on Kyuhyun’s shoulder. He lay back into the touch, joints stiff from sitting in the same position for half an hour.
“As well as he can be, I suppose,” said Kyuhyun softly, glancing at Donghae, face calm in sleep. “I don’t suppose we’ve heard-”
“No,” said Zhou Mi with a shake of his head. “But Heechul-hyung has stepped up his searching. I think Donghae’s reaction spurred him onwards. I get the feeling that he wasn’t taking it too seriously beforehand.”
“Heechul never takes anything serious unless it affects someone else,” said Kyuhyun with a weak smile.
“Do you think Eunhyuk was right?” asked Zhou Mi suddenly. “Was he right to just leave like that?”
“No,” said Kyuhyun with a shake of his head. “I don’t think he was right at all. It’s unforgivable to betray us like that.”
“What if he apologised?” asked Zhou Mi. “What if he came back and said that he was sorry? What if he gave us an explanation?”
Kyuhyun stared at him. “What are you trying to say?” he asked. “Zhou Mi, do you know-”
“No,” said Zhou Mi quickly and reassuringly. “No, I don’t know where he is or why he’s gone. I was just - in a hypothetical situation-”
“It was an unbelievably selfish thing to do,” said Kyuhyun. “Eunhyuk has never acted like that before. You know as well as I do, Eunhyuk is one of the least selfish people I’ve ever met. I don’t understand at all how he could do this. He must have known - what it would do to Donghae. He should have known more than anyone.”
“Maybe he’s in love,” said Zhou Mi. “Completely. Love can make you do stupid things.”
“We can’t afford to fall victim to things like that here,” said Kyuhyun, avoiding Zhou Mi’s eyes. “We’re here to perform a duty. If we went off on the rails because of love we’d be failing our family.”
“I might,” said Zhou Mi. “I followed Hankyung because I loved him, albeit in a different way to how I love you. If it was you - I’d follow you, certainly.”
“What if it was wrong? What if what I was doing was actually a bad thing to do? Could you follow me then?”
“I’d follow you.”
“You worry me sometimes,” said Kyuhyun, looking away to look out of the window across the room, although he could see Zhou Mi’s smile out of the corner of his eye. There was a pause.
“Siwon,” began Zhou Mi, but Kyuhyun interrupted.
“I don’t want to talk about him.”
“I want to know why he did it.”
“Because he’s a bastard!” said Kyuhyun, rather too loudly. “God, Zhou Mi, he did it because he’s a Choi ba-”
Donghae’s eyes shot open, a spark of fear shooting across his face for a split second before he realised that it was just Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi, and he relaxed slightly before he rolled onto his back. Kyuhyun stood up to stand over the bed, looking at him. “How do you feel?” he asked softly.
Donghae didn’t answer him. He stared at the ceiling for a couple of minutes, and then said, “Is Eunhyuk still gone?”
Kyuhyun glanced at Zhou Mi, who just shook his head helplessly. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Yeah, he is.”
“Oh,” said Donghae. He struggled to sit upright, and then smiled sheepishly at Kyuhyun. “I’m thirsty,” he said.
“I’ll get you a drink,” said Kyuhyun, and he left the room quickly. Donghae turned to look at Zhou Mi with a level look. He looked nothing like the broken man that Sungmin had tearfully described to him when Zhou Mi had come home. Zhou Mi hugged him, noting the way Donghae stiffened, and didn’t relax until Zhou Mi had stepped back and sat down on the seat that Kyuhyun had vacated. Perhaps he wasn’t as in control of himself or as normal as he seemed to be. Zhou Mi just hoped that this shock hadn’t flung Donghae back in time to when he couldn’t be around people without snapping.
“I want to talk to you,” said Donghae.
“Me?” Zhou Mi frowned at him.
“I want to talk to you about Siwon,” said Donghae, crossing his legs on the bed and gripping his knees with his hands. “I heard what you and Kyuhyun were talking about, though it was foggy from sleep. If he - came back and explained, you would listen and forgive, wouldn’t you?”
Zhou Mi nodded weakly. He understood that perhaps it wasn’t the best response to give, not with the way the Kim family felt about the Choi family, but he couldn’t help it - Siwon had been his friend.
Donghae nodded back, and then said softly; “I would too.”
“But he’s a Choi,” said Zhou Mi, shocked. “And they-”
“One Choi did,” said Donghae. “And I know who that person is, and it certainly wasn’t Siwon. I can’t - hate anyone like I hate that one person. I can’t hate anymore, Zhou Mi. I want to be in a position to forgive Siwon.”
Zhou Mi looked at him carefully, and then thought about Kyuhyun, the way he refused to even listen to anything to do with Siwon, and then made a decision. “What do you want to do?” he asked.
***
Heechul stormed into the kitchen two days later and threw a pile of papers in front of Kangin who was eating. Then he stood, glaring down at him, as Kangin blinked and lay down his chopsticks to flick aimlessly through them.
“What’s this?” he asked, and then frowned. “Fuck, Heechul, do you want someone else to join the family?”
“You asked me to do it,” snapped Heechul, and sat down heavily on one of the spare chairs. Sungmin and Ryeowook, who had been talking as they ate next to Kangin, suddenly went silent as they realised how honestly angry Heechul was.
“Is this information on Tablo?” asked Kangin, suddenly looking a lot more interested.
Daniel Lee Armand, also known as Lee Sun-woong,” said Heechul, practically spitting out his words. “Known to his friends as Tablo. Twenty-eight years old, has been with the police force for four years now, previously studied in America.”
“Hmm,” said Kangin, glancing at the picture that someone had taken of the man as he came out of a block of flats. Sungmin jumped up to look too.
“That’s him,” he said.
“Lives in flat number 6, Chun-dang, Seoul,” said Heechul.
“But-” Kangin looked up suddenly, frowning. “That’s in Choi territory.”
“Exactly,” said Heechul, as Sungmin looked at him in confusion.
“But he and Eunhyuk weren’t in Choi territory,” he said. “They were in the center.”
“Perhaps they were just renting that place, or perhaps it was a friend’s. Whatever it was, Lee Sun-woong lives in Chun-dang, Seoul, and works for the police force in the Choi part of the town.”
“Then Eunhyuk-”
“Has left to live with someone who basically works for the Choi family.” Heechul looked at Sungmin, anger in his eyes. “If he’s gone to him, then he knew where he lived. He knew exactly who this person was. That makes it so much worse than what Hankyung and I did. We didn’t know, but Eunhyuk knew.”
“But Eunhyuk wouldn’t-”
“He has, Sungmin,” said Kangin. “He has. And this just makes it so much more worse for him as well. He’s getting used, Sungmin. This Tablo or whatever his real name is, he’ll just be using him for what he can learn about the Kim family.”
“Well we have to get him to come back then!”
“We can’t,” said Kangin. “He’s living on Choi territory, remember? We can’t just go in there, guns blazing; that is the very worst thing we could do right now, after what happened with Siwon.”
“We can’t just leave him!” cried Sungmin. “What if he gets found? What if they kill him?”
“I’ll have to talk to Eeteuk,” said Kangin, shaking his head sadly. “Sungmin, I’m sorry, but we haven’t betrayed Eunhyuk, he’s abandoned us.”
“He’s not thinking right!” said Sungmin desperately. “Please, Kangin, we have to do something-”
“I’ll talk to Eeteuk about it.” He hugged Sungmin, and then motioned to Heechul to follow him out of the room. Heechul’s footsteps were heavy and loud against the floor, arms folded across his chest.
“I feel like throwing something,” he said. “Preferably Eunhyuk out of a window.”
“I think that Sungmin is right though,” said Kangin thoughtfully. “I don’t think Eunhyuk is thinking straight about this. It’s like he’s met someone and suddenly his brain has just gone to the dogs.”
“That would make sense if he was a teenager,” said Heechul scornfully. “He’s twenty-two, Kangin. He should know better.”
“You’d think so,” said Kangin with a weak grin.
“And how could he leave for someone who works for a Choi?” spat Heechul. “After everything we’ve been through these past few days because of them?”
“Thank you,” said Kangin. “For doing that research for me.”
Heechul shrugged. “I just found out his real name, it was Shindong who found out where he worked and lived.”
“I’ll thank him too.”
“Yeah, well, it’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?” Heechul rolled his eyes, and Kangin raised a hand as if to hit him on the shoulder and then thought better of it.
“Hyung?”
They turned: Zhou Mi was standing at the bottom of the corridor, looking nervously at Heechul. “Yeah?” he asked, folding his arms and tapping his foot in mock-impatience that Kangin knew was an act - Zhou Mi was one person Heechul could never be annoyed around.
“Hyung, can I talk to you?” Zhou Mi glanced at Kangin and then swallowed. “In private?”
“Is this a confession?” asked Heechul, looking slightly amused. “Because Seasoning, I love you and all, but you already have Kyuhyun and I have-” He stopped, and then gave a hollow laugh.
“I’ll leave you to it,” said Kangin with a laugh as Zhou Mi protested. He walked down the corridor and around the corner. Zhou Mi suddenly looked a lot more nervous.
“What did you want?” asked Heechul.
“I need to talk to you,” said Zhou Mi, twisting his fingers together. “About Siwon.”
Fandom: Super Junior AU (Mafia)
Pairings: Siwon/Hankyung/Heechul (Hankyung/Heechul), Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kangin/Eeteuk, Tablo/Eunhyuk
Pairings in Chapter: Kangin/Eeteuk, Kyuhyun/Zhou Mi, implied Tablo/Eunhyuk
Word Count: 3,821
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The Kim family and the Choi family are the two oldest families in Seoul: where other families have been born, grown, and then fell apart, they remain strong. Unfortunately, they are mortal enemies, and where one lives alongside the law, the other is beyond any control. It's up to the new generation of members to destroy the violence between them - even if it means destroying one family in the process.
A/N: I can see the end \o/ Unfortunately, seeing the end and getting to the end are two very different things kjajksdlajsd
Fabled ex-chapter 16 :|
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter 17
“I can’t believe this is happening,” said Eeteuk.
“Yeah,” murmured Kangin.
“No,” said Eeteuk. “I cannot believe this is happening.”
Kangin looked at him: his eyes were wild, hands pressed desperately to the table as if hoping for some sort of balance. He was shaking slightly. “Hey,” said Kangin, and hugged him, arms tight around his shoulders. “Hey, calm down, would you? We need you.”
“He’s gone,” said Eeteuk, a shrill quality to his voice. “Someone has kidnapped Eunhyuk from right under our noses!”
“We don’t know that for certain,” said Kangin, though he knew that they did.
“How did it happen?” Eeteuk pushed him away, collapsed onto a chair. “How the fuck did someone get into the estate and kidnap him? For fuck’s sake, Kangin, we’ve got guards for a reason!”
“I know,” said Kangin, frowning a little as he realised that his voice was soothing - thank god no one else was around for this. “I’ve sent Hankyung down to see if they saw anyone, or let anyone in. They’d have needed ID - full ID, real ID, to get in.”
“What if it’s a Choi?” Eeteuk was suddenly struck again. “What if it’s revenge for letting their heir join our family?”
“If a Choi had tried to enter, we would have been notified,” said Kangin. “God, Eeteuk, since when was I the one who thought about things before I spoke?”
“You’re right,” said Eeteuk. “You’re right, I should calm down, I should just - oh my fucking god, Donghae. We have to tell Donghae that his cousin is gone. Sungmin too - Sungmin, he’ll be - Kangin, Donghae’s grasp on reality can be feeble at the best of times, this will just knock him over the edge.”
Kangin was silent - he agreed with that, he couldn’t come up with anything to counter it. Telling Donghae that his cousin, the one who sat with him and played video games with him, the one who had done the most to raise him from the mires of his past, was gone, and they didn’t know where he was - it could be disastrous.
“We’ll have to make sure Kibum is no where around when we do,” said Kangin softly. “Make sure that Sungmin is there.”
“We’ll have to start looking for him,” said Eeteuk, suddenly firm, suddenly taking control. “Once we know whether anyone came in or not, we can start asking around the locals to find out if they saw anyone suspicious. Tell Heechul that I’d like him to start the investigation into his disappearance.”
“Heechul?” Kangin raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that letting Heechul have control over something which requires dealing with the public is a good idea?”
“I think it is,” said Eeteuk softly. “I think it will take his mind off what happened.”
“You think he-”
“I think they both did.”
“Shit.” Kangin put an arm around Eeteuk’s shoulder, the movement granting comfort to both of them. “I mean, I know Heechul likes to act like he knows everything, but they really didn’t know, did they?”
“Heechul hates the Choi family. If he’d known that Siwon was their heir, it’s more likely that he’d have shot at him, not let him into his relationship with Hankyung.”
“Sometimes I think he hates them more than Donghae does,” said Kangin.
“It’s because of Hankyung,” said Eeteuk. “You know how he gets with Hankyung.”
“Well that makes sense,” said Kangin, sighing heavily. He rested his chin on Eeteuk’s head, aware that however uncomfortable and awkward he found silence, Eeteuk would need it to be able to think through what needed to be done. Kangin was good with getting things done - Eeteuk was good with the ideas part.
There was a knock at the door, quiet, almost hesitant. “Come in,” called Kangin, and stepped away from Eeteuk, who remained deep in thought.
It was Sungmin; he pushed the door open and then looked like he wanted to do nothing more other than bolt out. “Um,” he said, eyeing Eeteuk nervously. “Can I - talk to you?”
“Oh,” said Eeteuk softly at Sungmin’s voice, and looked up sadly. “Yes, of course you can.”
“It’s about Eunhyuk,” said Sungmin as he came into the room and stood in front of the desk, fingers fiddling with a piece of paper that he held in his hands.
“You’ve heard?” asked Eeteuk softly.
“I’ve heard,” said Sungmin with a tense nod. “I’ve heard that you think he’s been kidnapped. Hyung - that’s not true.”
Eeteuk frowned at him, lifting his head a little, confused. “What do you mean? Sungmin, do you know something about this?”
Sungmin nodded again. “Eunhyuk left me a note,” he said. “I just found it in my room.”
“A note? Then he knew what was going to happen?”
“He hasn’t been kidnapped. He’s run away.”
Eeteuk stared at him, mouth falling open. Kangin sat down heavily. “What?” he asked hoarsely.
“I - Eunhyuk was seeing someone.”
“Seeing someone? Like, dating someone?” Sungmin nodded. “Why didn’t we know?”
“He kept it a secret.” Sungmin hesitated. “Hyung, I really - didn’t want to tell you about this. It was supposed to be - I was the only one who was supposed to know. Even Donghae doesn’t know as much as I do.”
“What is it, Sungmin? Why couldn’t he tell us?”
Sungmin hesitated again. “Hyung, I don’t want to tell you if it will get Eunhyuk into trouble - that’s the last thing I want.”
“Tell us, Sungmin, or else we can’t help!” Kangin said, exasperated.
“He was going out with a police officer.”
“He was what?”
“He was going out with a police officer.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know!” said Sungmin, suddenly sounding like he was about to cry from frustration. “All I know is that his name is Tablo, but I think that Eunhyuk gave me a nickname. He’s planned this, hyung. He’s planned this!”
“What do you mean, planned it?”
“Don’t you see? I told him to break it off with this guy ages ago, while he still could, and he told me that he had, but he actually didn’t; or, if he did, then he’s changed his mind. He heard about Siwon, and saw that while we were furious about who he really was, it was the lying that pissed us off the most. He couldn’t lie to us any longer, hyung!”
“So he’s - run away.” Eeteuk stood up, a little shaky. “But he can’t - god, Kangin, he knows everything about this family! He could tell anyone anything! Oh fuck-” He sat down heavily and put his head back in his hands.
“Get me Heechul and Shindong,” said Kangin. Sungmin looked slightly confused, but then nodded and left the room. Kangin sighed and rubbed his thumbs over the back of Eeteuk’s neck, hands on his shoulders. “This family is falling apart,” he said.
“I don’t understand any of it,” said Eeteuk, voice muffled.
“This family was better off under my father,” said Kangin.
Eeteuk slowly raised his head, and then turned to glare at Kangin. “Don’t say that,” he said in a low voice. “Don’t ever say that. You’ve been the ruler of this family since before I was even here, whether it was in name or not. This has got nothing to do with you or your father. These are just - freak occurrences.”
“No one even run away when my father was in charge,” said Kangin, pulling his chair over and sitting down heavily.
“And I’m fairly certain that no one ever fell in love with a police officer when your father was in charge,” said Eeteuk. “It’s not your fault, Kangin. It’s no one’s fault.”
“What do we do with Eunhyuk?” asked Kangin. “We can’t just leave him, surely.”
“He knows too much,” said Eeteuk. “He knows all the family secrets, he knows all the passwords and account numbers. We can’t leave him but - Kangin, what do we do with him? He’s still part of this family, isn’t he?”
“Is he?” Kangin sounded doubtful. “Didn’t he forfeit that right when he left us?”
“This is a disaster,” said Eeteuk. “I don’t understand. How could he do this to us?”
“I don’t understand either,” admitted Kangin quietly.
There was a knock at the door, and Shindong came through, Heechul strolling along behind him. “This had better be good,” said Heechul with an annoyed flick of his hair. “I was just about to go threaten a couple of drug lords.”
“What do you want?” asked Shindong, choosing not to bitch like Heechul.
“Cancel your appointment with the drug dealers, Heechul,” said Kangin, standing up, hand brushing over Eeteuk’s neck again. “I need the both of you to get started on something new.”
“What?”
“I need you to research someone for me,” said Kangin. “Heechul, because you know everyone, and Shindong, because you have contacts in the police force.”
“Who?” Shindong suddenly looked a lot more interested.
“Some guy called Tablo. We don’t think that’s his name, but that’s all we’ve got. A police officer. Ask Sungmin, he might know more about him. Right now, I don’t even know his age, what he looks like, where exactly he lives - we think he owns a flat in the center, but that could just be a meeting place.”
“Why are we looking into this guy?” asked Heechul, looking confused. “What’s he got to do with us?”
“He’s the one that Eunhyuk’s ran away to,” said Kangin. Shindong and Heechul frowned at him.
“I thought Eunhyuk was kidnapped,” said Shindong.
“No,” said Eeteuk, shaking his head as he spoke for the first time. “He hasn’t been kidnapped. He’s run away.”
“He’s run away?” Heechul sounded like he couldn’t work out whether to be astonished or gleeful at the scandal.
“Heechul,” said Kangin warningly. Heechul just rolled his eyes at him.
“So he’s run away to be with his fuck-buddy or whatever,” he said. “That’s his decision, surely.”
“Not when we don’t know who this guy is,” said Kangin. “He could just be using Eunhyuk to get at the Kim family. We don’t know what’s going on any more than you do, so we just need you to find out about this guy before we go blazing in with guns fully drawn.”
“You take the fun out of being in the mafia,” said Heechul, looking annoyed, but he followed Shindong out of the room anyway without any further protest, and Kangin trusted him enough to know that he would find out.
***
Zhou Mi found Kyuhyun in Donghae’s room, sitting on a chair near the bed as Donghae slept. After Donghae had been told that Eunhyuk had gone (Sungmin had asked Eeteuk to do it, he hadn’t felt like he could do that), Donghae had seemed fine for around ten minutes, but once the realisation had sunk in, he’d turned to Sungmin, standing in the corner, and remarked calmly that he didn’t seem to know anyone completely.
After that, Donghae had gone completely silent, bringing his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees, eyes dull. They had had the idea of leaving him to it, but when Eeteuk asked him something, and Donghae didn’t give any recognition that he had heard, Kangin had placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him a little to wake him up. That had proven a mistake, as something inside Donghae snapped, and he had cried out and pushed Kangin away desperately.
“Donghae!” said Kangin loudly, trying to take hold of him. “Donghae, it’s me!”
“Get away from me,” yelled Donghae, twisting and turning to get away; Kyuhyun had put his hand on his back to calm him down, and Donghae had turned on him, throwing a careless arm out to hit him, one that Kyuhyun only just managed to duck. “Don’t touch me, I don’t want to-”
He sank to the floor, sobbing hysterically; Sungmin tried to hug him but Donghae fought even against him, even as tears streamed down his face. “Leave me alone,” he screamed. “I don’t - I can’t - leave me alone.”
“Lee Donghae!” shouted Heechul, and slapped him across the face. He later said to Hankyung that it at least stopped the yelling, though it didn’t stop the crying, and it certainly didn’t bring Donghae back to the present time: he went limp, body suddenly bereft of energy, not talking or looking at anyone. He didn’t protest when Kangin pulled him to his feet, and didn’t protest when he took him back to his own bedroom. He simply lay on the bed and eventually slept. Kyuhyun had stayed with him.
“How is he?” asked Zhou Mi, coming in quietly. He hadn’t been around at the time, but clearly he had been told, from the way he looked nervously at Donghae and then placed a hand on Kyuhyun’s shoulder. He lay back into the touch, joints stiff from sitting in the same position for half an hour.
“As well as he can be, I suppose,” said Kyuhyun softly, glancing at Donghae, face calm in sleep. “I don’t suppose we’ve heard-”
“No,” said Zhou Mi with a shake of his head. “But Heechul-hyung has stepped up his searching. I think Donghae’s reaction spurred him onwards. I get the feeling that he wasn’t taking it too seriously beforehand.”
“Heechul never takes anything serious unless it affects someone else,” said Kyuhyun with a weak smile.
“Do you think Eunhyuk was right?” asked Zhou Mi suddenly. “Was he right to just leave like that?”
“No,” said Kyuhyun with a shake of his head. “I don’t think he was right at all. It’s unforgivable to betray us like that.”
“What if he apologised?” asked Zhou Mi. “What if he came back and said that he was sorry? What if he gave us an explanation?”
Kyuhyun stared at him. “What are you trying to say?” he asked. “Zhou Mi, do you know-”
“No,” said Zhou Mi quickly and reassuringly. “No, I don’t know where he is or why he’s gone. I was just - in a hypothetical situation-”
“It was an unbelievably selfish thing to do,” said Kyuhyun. “Eunhyuk has never acted like that before. You know as well as I do, Eunhyuk is one of the least selfish people I’ve ever met. I don’t understand at all how he could do this. He must have known - what it would do to Donghae. He should have known more than anyone.”
“Maybe he’s in love,” said Zhou Mi. “Completely. Love can make you do stupid things.”
“We can’t afford to fall victim to things like that here,” said Kyuhyun, avoiding Zhou Mi’s eyes. “We’re here to perform a duty. If we went off on the rails because of love we’d be failing our family.”
“I might,” said Zhou Mi. “I followed Hankyung because I loved him, albeit in a different way to how I love you. If it was you - I’d follow you, certainly.”
“What if it was wrong? What if what I was doing was actually a bad thing to do? Could you follow me then?”
“I’d follow you.”
“You worry me sometimes,” said Kyuhyun, looking away to look out of the window across the room, although he could see Zhou Mi’s smile out of the corner of his eye. There was a pause.
“Siwon,” began Zhou Mi, but Kyuhyun interrupted.
“I don’t want to talk about him.”
“I want to know why he did it.”
“Because he’s a bastard!” said Kyuhyun, rather too loudly. “God, Zhou Mi, he did it because he’s a Choi ba-”
Donghae’s eyes shot open, a spark of fear shooting across his face for a split second before he realised that it was just Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi, and he relaxed slightly before he rolled onto his back. Kyuhyun stood up to stand over the bed, looking at him. “How do you feel?” he asked softly.
Donghae didn’t answer him. He stared at the ceiling for a couple of minutes, and then said, “Is Eunhyuk still gone?”
Kyuhyun glanced at Zhou Mi, who just shook his head helplessly. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Yeah, he is.”
“Oh,” said Donghae. He struggled to sit upright, and then smiled sheepishly at Kyuhyun. “I’m thirsty,” he said.
“I’ll get you a drink,” said Kyuhyun, and he left the room quickly. Donghae turned to look at Zhou Mi with a level look. He looked nothing like the broken man that Sungmin had tearfully described to him when Zhou Mi had come home. Zhou Mi hugged him, noting the way Donghae stiffened, and didn’t relax until Zhou Mi had stepped back and sat down on the seat that Kyuhyun had vacated. Perhaps he wasn’t as in control of himself or as normal as he seemed to be. Zhou Mi just hoped that this shock hadn’t flung Donghae back in time to when he couldn’t be around people without snapping.
“I want to talk to you,” said Donghae.
“Me?” Zhou Mi frowned at him.
“I want to talk to you about Siwon,” said Donghae, crossing his legs on the bed and gripping his knees with his hands. “I heard what you and Kyuhyun were talking about, though it was foggy from sleep. If he - came back and explained, you would listen and forgive, wouldn’t you?”
Zhou Mi nodded weakly. He understood that perhaps it wasn’t the best response to give, not with the way the Kim family felt about the Choi family, but he couldn’t help it - Siwon had been his friend.
Donghae nodded back, and then said softly; “I would too.”
“But he’s a Choi,” said Zhou Mi, shocked. “And they-”
“One Choi did,” said Donghae. “And I know who that person is, and it certainly wasn’t Siwon. I can’t - hate anyone like I hate that one person. I can’t hate anymore, Zhou Mi. I want to be in a position to forgive Siwon.”
Zhou Mi looked at him carefully, and then thought about Kyuhyun, the way he refused to even listen to anything to do with Siwon, and then made a decision. “What do you want to do?” he asked.
***
Heechul stormed into the kitchen two days later and threw a pile of papers in front of Kangin who was eating. Then he stood, glaring down at him, as Kangin blinked and lay down his chopsticks to flick aimlessly through them.
“What’s this?” he asked, and then frowned. “Fuck, Heechul, do you want someone else to join the family?”
“You asked me to do it,” snapped Heechul, and sat down heavily on one of the spare chairs. Sungmin and Ryeowook, who had been talking as they ate next to Kangin, suddenly went silent as they realised how honestly angry Heechul was.
“Is this information on Tablo?” asked Kangin, suddenly looking a lot more interested.
Daniel Lee Armand, also known as Lee Sun-woong,” said Heechul, practically spitting out his words. “Known to his friends as Tablo. Twenty-eight years old, has been with the police force for four years now, previously studied in America.”
“Hmm,” said Kangin, glancing at the picture that someone had taken of the man as he came out of a block of flats. Sungmin jumped up to look too.
“That’s him,” he said.
“Lives in flat number 6, Chun-dang, Seoul,” said Heechul.
“But-” Kangin looked up suddenly, frowning. “That’s in Choi territory.”
“Exactly,” said Heechul, as Sungmin looked at him in confusion.
“But he and Eunhyuk weren’t in Choi territory,” he said. “They were in the center.”
“Perhaps they were just renting that place, or perhaps it was a friend’s. Whatever it was, Lee Sun-woong lives in Chun-dang, Seoul, and works for the police force in the Choi part of the town.”
“Then Eunhyuk-”
“Has left to live with someone who basically works for the Choi family.” Heechul looked at Sungmin, anger in his eyes. “If he’s gone to him, then he knew where he lived. He knew exactly who this person was. That makes it so much worse than what Hankyung and I did. We didn’t know, but Eunhyuk knew.”
“But Eunhyuk wouldn’t-”
“He has, Sungmin,” said Kangin. “He has. And this just makes it so much more worse for him as well. He’s getting used, Sungmin. This Tablo or whatever his real name is, he’ll just be using him for what he can learn about the Kim family.”
“Well we have to get him to come back then!”
“We can’t,” said Kangin. “He’s living on Choi territory, remember? We can’t just go in there, guns blazing; that is the very worst thing we could do right now, after what happened with Siwon.”
“We can’t just leave him!” cried Sungmin. “What if he gets found? What if they kill him?”
“I’ll have to talk to Eeteuk,” said Kangin, shaking his head sadly. “Sungmin, I’m sorry, but we haven’t betrayed Eunhyuk, he’s abandoned us.”
“He’s not thinking right!” said Sungmin desperately. “Please, Kangin, we have to do something-”
“I’ll talk to Eeteuk about it.” He hugged Sungmin, and then motioned to Heechul to follow him out of the room. Heechul’s footsteps were heavy and loud against the floor, arms folded across his chest.
“I feel like throwing something,” he said. “Preferably Eunhyuk out of a window.”
“I think that Sungmin is right though,” said Kangin thoughtfully. “I don’t think Eunhyuk is thinking straight about this. It’s like he’s met someone and suddenly his brain has just gone to the dogs.”
“That would make sense if he was a teenager,” said Heechul scornfully. “He’s twenty-two, Kangin. He should know better.”
“You’d think so,” said Kangin with a weak grin.
“And how could he leave for someone who works for a Choi?” spat Heechul. “After everything we’ve been through these past few days because of them?”
“Thank you,” said Kangin. “For doing that research for me.”
Heechul shrugged. “I just found out his real name, it was Shindong who found out where he worked and lived.”
“I’ll thank him too.”
“Yeah, well, it’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?” Heechul rolled his eyes, and Kangin raised a hand as if to hit him on the shoulder and then thought better of it.
“Hyung?”
They turned: Zhou Mi was standing at the bottom of the corridor, looking nervously at Heechul. “Yeah?” he asked, folding his arms and tapping his foot in mock-impatience that Kangin knew was an act - Zhou Mi was one person Heechul could never be annoyed around.
“Hyung, can I talk to you?” Zhou Mi glanced at Kangin and then swallowed. “In private?”
“Is this a confession?” asked Heechul, looking slightly amused. “Because Seasoning, I love you and all, but you already have Kyuhyun and I have-” He stopped, and then gave a hollow laugh.
“I’ll leave you to it,” said Kangin with a laugh as Zhou Mi protested. He walked down the corridor and around the corner. Zhou Mi suddenly looked a lot more nervous.
“What did you want?” asked Heechul.
“I need to talk to you,” said Zhou Mi, twisting his fingers together. “About Siwon.”