Tears Run Dry
Title: Tears Run Dry
Author: ich_heisse_kai
Pairing: Qmi, side Hanry and others
Rating: pg-13
Length: (2/~6)
Summary: In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.” ~ Michael Jackson
Weeks passed and nothing happened along the lines of a relationship. Zhoumi smiled at him more, hugged him a bit more frequently, but that was all. But once the fourth week after the beginning of their ‘relationship’ had passed, Zhoumi managed to convince Kyuhyun to go on a date. Kyuhyun was reluctant, but still found himself wondering what he would ware.
Their date consisted of a meal and hanging-out after, not that Kyuhyun knew what Zhoumi expected from this ‘hanging-out’ plan. When Kyuhyun met Zhoumi at their planned meeting place, because Kyuhyun didn’t want Zhoumi picking him up like the other planned, he was amazed to see just how handsome the gangly man could look when in clothes that actually fit him.
Zhoumi trotted up to him, grinned and took Kyuhyun’s hand in his. “C’mon, Kuixian!”
Kyuhyun wasn’t sure where they were going but soon found himself drug into a café and pushed into a booth. “I like this place,” Zhoumi explained later, his grin still in place, “this was the first restaurant I came to when I moved here.”
Kyuhyun sipped on the coffee that the young, pretty female waitress brought for him (Zhoumi got bubble tea) and, looking pointedly at Zhoumi, asked, “What do you have planned?”
Zhoumi just blinked. “Planned?”
Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and thought that he should have expected this.
“Kuixian,” Zhoumi called as Kyuhyun stared out at the other customers in the shop, chin in his hand. Kyuhyun glanced at him, but said nothing. Zhoumi’s eyes stared at something that wasn’t Kyuhyun’s eyes and a long arm reached across the table and tugged on Kyuhyun’s sleeve, pulling the fabric down his arm. Kyuhyun jerked away, but not quick enough. Zhoumi had a hold of his wrist and turned it, so the underside was revealed, along with curious scars. “Kuixian… what’s this?”
Kyuhyun swallowed, his mind raced through things he could possibly say to get Zhoumi to drop it. “I… I fell a couple times. That’s all.”
“Don’t lie,” Zhoumi said, his voice surprisingly stern and strong, the smile on his face gone. “There’s no way you can get circular scars like this from falling… they’re more like…” Zhoumi’s voice trailed off, his eyes growing wide. “These are burns.”
When nothing else came to mind, Kyuhyun just tore his wrist out of the other man’s grasp. Zhoumi looked offended, especially when Kyuhyun glared out into the restaurant, but, after a moment, only sighed and turned his attention towards the window adjacent to their booth.
After a long half-hour passed, Kyuhyun stood up abruptly, shocking Zhoumi who turned to stare at him wide-eyed. Zhoumi was afraid Kyuhyun would leave him there, especially as the younger took out his wallet and pulled out a couple bills. He practically threw the money onto the table, and turned his eyes to the older man. “What?” he asked, his voice biting, “I thought we were on a date.”
Zhoumi grinned and jumped to his feet, trotting after Kyuhyun as the other led them out of the café. After they had been walking a couple blocks, Zhoumi hooked his arm through Kyuhyun’s and asked, “Tell me something, Kuixian!”
“Tell you what?”
Zhoumi hummed, “Anything! Something about you, though, because if it’s not, I’m not interested.”
Kyuhyun glanced at Zhoumi. The other was half-pouting, waiting for him to say something, anything. With a sigh, Kyuhyun admitted, “I like video games.”
And Zhoumi laughed. “Video games?” he asked, “the genius, super-popular Kuixian likes to play video games?”
Kyuhyun frowned at the other’s teasing, turning his head to try and hide the slight blush on his cheeks. “Shuttup,” he slurred, embarrassment getting the better of him. “You asked.”
Zhoumi agreed with this and stifled his laughs the best he could. “What kind of video games?”
“Computer games,” Kyuhyun answered, “Like Starcraft. My parents often think I’m studying, when I’m actually playing online games”
Zhoumi laughs again, loud and rich, causing other passerby’s to stare, but Kyuhyun found that he didn’t mind, especially if the other continued to hold onto him like that.
Days continued on in the norm. Kyuhyun didn’t think much changed since their first date, except that Zhoumi was a little more smiley and touched him more, but Kyuhyun smiled more often now (not a lot, just more often).
Other students began to notice the two more, but that’s only when Zhoumi was whining to Kyuhyun or hanging off of him in one way or another. Kyuhyun thought nothing of the gazes and stares they attracted and just continued on with his day.
Zhoumi is chatting to him, the normal, as the duo walked to Kyuhyun’s locker. They were coming from Zhoumi’s and Zhoumi began chatting on about how, soon, he would be able to go to the grade he belonged with, not the sophomore class. Kyuhyun nodded as the other spoke, but was slightly upset by the thought of Zhoumi leaving him alone.
Pulling open his locker, four brightly colored envelopes fell out, some landing on the floor. Zhoumi examined one of the three that he picked up off the floor, eyeing the cutesy handwriting in a still foreign language and the hearts drawn all over it. The others were similar. “Give it here,” Kyuhyun said, reaching out for the letters Zhoumi held. Looking at the other, Zhoumi handed over the envelopes and as Kyuhyun headed towards the nearest trashcan and moved to throw the envelopes away, Zhoumi stopped him.
“Kuixian,” Zhoumi said, his voice almost strained and worried. He trotted over to Kyuhyun, gingerly touching his arm. “Don’t throw them away.”
Kyuhyun looked at the other like he was crazy. “Why?” he asked, “If I’m with you, why should I keep them?”
Zhoumi’s heart fluttered at Kyuhyun’s words, but he still exclaimed, “How mean! Those are their honest feelings in there! How can you throw those away?” Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and muttered something about being corny and ridiculous. Zhoumi frowned, worrying his bottom lip as he said, shyly, “Besides, those letters most likely contain words that describe how I feel about you.”
Kyuhyun eyed the taller male and when it seemed Zhoumi wasn’t going to let him throw the envelopes away, he sighed and returned to his locker, stuffing the brightly colored paper into a pocket of his bookbag. Looking back at Zhoumi, the other was grinning again. With a sigh, Kyuhyun said, “Let’s go eat.”
Zhoumi and Kyuhyun arrived at their outdoor table hand in hand, Zhoumi carrying both of their lunches. Their friends were already there and eating, noticing the two only when Kyuhyun’s foot snapped a twig. They looked up and greeted them, smiling and hellos, before going back to whatever it was they were doing. Besides Heechul.
Heechul, despite all his efforts not to, could only stare at Zhoumi’s hand in Kyuhyun’s as the two made their way to the table. Hurt settled in his heart, anger in his veins; Heechul stood up as the couple neared the table, marched up to Kyuhyun and slapped him, hard, across the other’s face.
Kyuhyun’s eyes widened and his body froze, Zhoumi let go of Kyuhyun’s hand to keep Heechul from hitting him again, but still managed to ask if he was alright. “mm fine,” Kyuhyun muttered, not looking at much of anything. His head was throbbing, his ears ringing, but he wasn’t about to admit that to Zhoumi, especially not in front of Heechul and the rest.
Zhoumi pursed his lips, but accepted the answer and turned back to Heechul who was shouting now, cried his aggravations at Kyuhyun, who stood still with unfocused eyes. “Heechul-ssi, Heechul-ssi,” Zhoumi called through the other’s shouting. Zhoumi had a hold on the other male’s shoulders since Heechul tried to grab at Kyuhyun again. “Calm down, calm down!”
The others were helping Zhoumi to try and get their friend to calm down and be rational again when there was a thud heard behind them. Zhoumi froze; turning around slowly, Zhoumi, and the others, saw the now limp form of their friend. “Kuixian!”
Zhoumi was the first one to appear by Kyuhyun’s side. He pulled Kyuhyun’s surprisingly light form into his lap, shouting his name and gently shaking him. “Kuixian! Kuixian!!”
When five minutes passed and Kyuhyun showed no signs of regaining consciousness, Siwon pushed Zhoumi out of the way, albeit nicely, picked up the youngest and ran with him, all the way across campus to the nurse with Zhoumi and the others trying to keep up. Other students stared at them, but none of them really cared, so long as Kyuhyun would be ok.
When they got to the nurse’s office, Siwon arriving first, and the rest stumbling into the room, and the nurse took a look at the unconscious man, she told them there wasn’t much they could do at the school. So she called for an ambulance and Kyuhyun was rushed to the hospital. Zhoumi, after begging the secretary at the front desk, was allowed to go with Kyuhyun to the hospital where he spent the rest of the day in an empty, stark white hallway, waiting for something, anything, about Kyuhyun.
After an hour or two, a nurse approached him. They talked for a while, the nurse doing most of the talking. “You’re here with..” the nurse looked down at the papers in her hands, “Cho Kyuhyun.. right?” Zhoumi nodded and proceeded to beg for any news the woman could give him. The nurse apologized a million times over, telling the young man that, unless he was associated to the patient in any blood-related way, she couldn’t tell him anything.
Zhoumi could have cried.
The nurse, obviously feeling pity for the young man by her, sighed and put her skinny arm over Zhoumi’s shoulders. “He’s been here a lot, I can tell you, for a lot of things,” the nurse said, her voice soft and melodic. Zhoumi looked at her, wondering what her point was and if it had anything to do with the scars on Kyuhyun’s arms. “Most of the time, its head injuries. Sometimes, it’s broken bones or for stitches, but most of the time, it’s head injuries.”
Zhoumi blinked. He stared at the woman with the soft eyes next to him and tried to piece together what she was telling him. She waited patiently for the man to comprehend the info she had just relayed to him, but it didn’t seem to work as he asked, “…What’s that mean…?”
This time, the nurse gave him a sad smile and shook her head. Before leaving, she said, “I don’t know.”
...
So. I realize i'm failing at this... ^^;;;;; i'm really sorry