iss 2011: for andersenmom
To: andersenmom
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: 2880 Minutes
Pairing/Focus: friendship!Dongwoo/Sungjong
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 1,903
Summary: What if you knew exactly when you were going to die?
“You do realize that you don’t have long to live.”
Sungjong looked down at the glowing timer on his arm.
To be exact, he had 48 hours left.
47 hours and 59 seconds.
47 hours and 58 seconds.
47 hours and 57-
“Accomplish this task and you’ll get 30 years.”
A file of a dark beige colour was thrown across the desk and ended up stopping right in front of where Sungjong was sitting.
He hesitated before reaching out and gingerly picked up the folder, opening it cautiously.
Along with a few papers, a photo was paper clipped at the front, and from it, a blond haired boy with shining eyes smiled brightly up at him.
It took all of Sungjong’s control not to drop the folder right then and there. When he finally snapped out of his daze, he slammed the folder closed and threw it back onto the desk.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do it.”
“If you don’t do it, I’m just going to hire someone else-“
“No!” Sungjong interjected, slamming his hand onto the wooden desk. The sound resonated through the spacious office, bouncing off the walls and fading into a cold silence.
A long moment passed before Sungjong lifted his face, eyes travelling up to meet with the dark brown ones of the man sitting across from him.
“I’ll do it.”
An amused smile found its way onto the man’s face.
“Good. Now go.”
----
Loud hip hop music travelled from the closed door of the dance studio when Sungjong got there, and he slowly pushed the door open to find his best friend dancing his heart out along with the beat. He stepped in and closed the door behind him, leaning against the wall while tapping his foot to the rhythm of the music and watching the other dance.
The music stopped, and after breaking from his ending pose, the dancing boy looked up into the mirror and a smile that definitely reached his eyes broke out on his face.
“Sungjong-ah! You’re late!”
“I’m sorry, Dongwoo hyung but I had… something to attend to.”
Dongwoo strode over to the bench and grabbed his water bottle, gulping down some of it before throwing the bottle back onto the bench.
“It’s alright. I was just practicing my own choreo before you got here anyway.”
Sungjong smiled back at the other, flipping his bangs out of his eyes.
“I know, I saw. It’s quite amazing, if you ask me.”
Dongwoo chuckled before walking over closer to the other and ruffling Sungjong’s hair, earning and indignant whine from the other.
“Thanks.” A smirk was sent his way. “So, let’s dance?”
“Yes, let’s.”
----
It was about the fifth time that Sungjong messed up the choreography already, and although Dongwoo had unlimited patience, he was starting to get worried about his best friend.
“Hey, you seem off today. What’s up?”
The two sat down on the dance studio floor with their backs to the mirror, downing their bottles of water. Sungjong shook his head.
“Nothing’s wrong. I guess I’m just tired, is all.”
Sungjong did his best impression of seeming tired, and it seemed to work on the ever naïve Dongwoo.
“Oh, okay then. Get some more sleep when you can alright? Sleep is important!”
Sungjong nodded weakly at that, trying his best to give the other a smile.
As Dongwoo reached up to run a hand through his hair, Sungjong stared at the other’s glowing timer on his arm.
50 years, 4 days, 23 minutes and 7 seconds.
6 seconds.
5 seconds.
“Come on, Sungjong-ah! Let’s continue!”
Sungjong snapped out of his reverie only to be met with the other’s charming eye smile, which seemed to be contagious as he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his own face.
“Okay, hyung.”
----
Sungjong flinched away from the loud slam of the desk in front of him.
“10 hours, Lee Sungjong. You have 10 freaking hours and if I don’t see Jang Dongwoo dead in 10 hours, then you will have no time left.”
“But, boss…” Sungjong began with a quiet voice, shying away from the other’s intense gaze.
“Is it imperative that we kill him? Because if there’s a way for everything to be solved without killing him, then-“
“THERE IS NO WAY.” His boss’s loud and low voice echoed off the walls of the spacious office, making Sungjong shift uncomfortably on his chair.
“Do you think that the son of the biggest rival gang could possibly not be a threat to us? He’s dangerous and I’d be silly not to choose one of our best assassins to get the job done. Why do you think I chose you? Really, Lee Sungjong. Think about it.”
“But he doesn’t even know anything about his father, and-“
“Are you killing him or not?”
A thick silence filled the room they were in, seemingly suffocating as Sungjong took deep breaths while a million thoughts ran through his head.
“Well?”
Another moment of silence, yet this one was shorter.
“Yes.”
----
Sungjong got into his sleek car with a huff, shifting uncomfortably in the driver’s seat while drumming his fingers on the dashboard. He let out a frustrated groan before reaching over to start his car, his fingers gliding over the touch screen controls on his dashboard, calling a familiar number.
“Hello?” The voice of his best friend was heard through the speakers, and Sungjong let out a small sigh before answering.
“Dongwoo hyung? Can I come over?”
He bit his lip while waiting for an answer.
“Oh, Sungjong? Well of course you can, didn’t I say before that you were always welcome here?”
“Alright hyung. Be there in 10!”
----
In exactly 10 minutes, Sungjong was halfway across town, shutting down his car and getting out while slamming the car door in his frustration.
It was night and the road up to the front door of Dongwoo’s house was quiet save for the soft sound of footsteps made by Sungjong’s heavy black boots. He reached the door, pacing back and forth for a moment before raising a finger to press the doorbell. It wasn’t long before he heard a “Coming!” along with rapid footsteps gradually getting louder. Sungjong flinched back at the bang he heard from the door, and soon enough an out-of-breath Dongwoo appeared through the opening of the door, rubbing at his reddening forehead.
“Sorry, Sungjong. I kinda… crashed into the door there because I was running so fast.” Dongwoo explained, opening the door wider for the other to step in.
“It’s alright hyung. You alright?” Sungjong couldn’t help the smile on his face as he stepped inside the warm house, taking off his boots.
“Yeah I’m fine.” Dongwoo said with one of his signature smiles. “So, what’d you come by here for, Sungjong-ah?” The two of them walked over to the living room where Dongwoo simply clapped his hands, and the lights and fireplace turned on automatically.
Sungjong flopped down in exhaustion on one of the black couches, letting out a sigh before bringing up his gaze to meet Dongwoo’s, who was sitting on the couch opposite of him.
“Hyung, can you do me a favour?” Sungjong’s face was very serious, and that worried Dongwoo slightly because this was definitely not the always hyper and smiling dongsaeng he knew.
“Sure! I mean, you’re my best friend, I have no reason not to.”
At these words, Sungjong slipped his hand in his back pocket, pulling out a sleek, black gun. Dongwoo’s eyes widened, hand gripping the armrest of the couch tightly.
“S-Sungjong-ah-” Dongwoo barely had time to react before the gun was thrown his way, but due to his fast reaction he was able to catch it before it hit his face.
“Kill me, Dongwoo-hyung. Please.”
“What? Sungjong? What- no. No, I’m not going to kill you! Are you crazy? Why?”
“Hyung, please. Don’t ask questions and just do it.”
Dongwoo’s face darkened as he got up and walked on over so that he was towering over the sitting Sungjong.
“Lee Sungjong. I will not kill you for no reason. Heck, I won’t even kill you, period.” He threw the gun away off to the other corner of the room. He turned back to glare and Sungjong, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down.
“Now please, tell me what happened?”
----
“So you see, I’d rather die than kill my best friend. And if I had to die, I’d rather die in the hands of my best friend instead of whichever stupid god or whatever who thought that timing people’s lives is a good idea.”
Silence.
“Kill me.”
“No.”
“Do it now.”
“I said no!”
“Please!”
“Just, no! I’m not going to kill you, so would you shut up?”
For some time, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the both of their breathing, irregular and deep.
“… How much time do you have left?”
With a sigh, Sungjong rolled up his sleeve to show the glowing timer to the other. He compared his own 8 hours and 23 minutes to the other’s 50 years, 3 days and 2 hours.
“So that’s why you always wear long sleeved shirts.”
“Yeah.”
Neither Dongwoo or Sungjong knew what to say. After a long moment though, Dongwoo spoke up with a quiet voice.
“Hey, can you sleepover tonight? We’ll have the time of our lives okay?”
Sungjong gave the other a weak smile.
“Okay.”
----
5 hours later and it was already 3AM. The pair had done everything from playing holographic Call of Duty, virtual baseball, as well as singing karaoke until their voices went hoarse. Dongwoo smiled and turned to stare at this sleeping best friend sprawled across his bed. Shaking his head, he went and tucked the other in, giving him a smile.
“Sleep tight, Sungjong-ah.”
----
Morning came along and the sunlight filtering in through the blinds woke up the boy sleeping on the bed, and he sleepily stretched before sitting up while rubbing at his eyes.
“Wow, what a nice day it is, today.” Sungjong thought as he stretched some more while sitting on the bed, taking a look around. He realized with a delay in his train of thought that he was indeed not in his own room, on his own bed, but instead he was on Dongwoo’s bed, in Dongwoo’s bedroom. He also realized, as his eyes grew in shock, that he was very much still alive.
Unless, that is, heaven consisted of a room that looked exactly like Dongwoo’s.
Sungjong caught sight of a piece of bright green note paper placed on the surface of the night table beside the bed, and he recognized the messy handwriting of his best friend. He reached over and gingerly picked up the note, his eyes running across the words scrawled on the paper a few times before comprehending them with his mind still in a half-sleeping state.
Sungjong-ah!
Live your life to its fullest okay? Remember to pursue your dreams, because they make you who you are, and the only person who can stop you from achieving them is YOU!
-Dongwoo.
Sungjong hurriedly rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, his eyes widening and the bright green piece of note paper fluttering slowly from his limp hand, landing onto the bed sheets below.
50 years, 2 days, 17 hours and 23 minutes.
From: Your Secret Santa
Title: 2880 Minutes
Pairing/Focus: friendship!Dongwoo/Sungjong
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 1,903
Summary: What if you knew exactly when you were going to die?
“You do realize that you don’t have long to live.”
Sungjong looked down at the glowing timer on his arm.
To be exact, he had 48 hours left.
47 hours and 59 seconds.
47 hours and 58 seconds.
47 hours and 57-
“Accomplish this task and you’ll get 30 years.”
A file of a dark beige colour was thrown across the desk and ended up stopping right in front of where Sungjong was sitting.
He hesitated before reaching out and gingerly picked up the folder, opening it cautiously.
Along with a few papers, a photo was paper clipped at the front, and from it, a blond haired boy with shining eyes smiled brightly up at him.
It took all of Sungjong’s control not to drop the folder right then and there. When he finally snapped out of his daze, he slammed the folder closed and threw it back onto the desk.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do it.”
“If you don’t do it, I’m just going to hire someone else-“
“No!” Sungjong interjected, slamming his hand onto the wooden desk. The sound resonated through the spacious office, bouncing off the walls and fading into a cold silence.
A long moment passed before Sungjong lifted his face, eyes travelling up to meet with the dark brown ones of the man sitting across from him.
“I’ll do it.”
An amused smile found its way onto the man’s face.
“Good. Now go.”
----
Loud hip hop music travelled from the closed door of the dance studio when Sungjong got there, and he slowly pushed the door open to find his best friend dancing his heart out along with the beat. He stepped in and closed the door behind him, leaning against the wall while tapping his foot to the rhythm of the music and watching the other dance.
The music stopped, and after breaking from his ending pose, the dancing boy looked up into the mirror and a smile that definitely reached his eyes broke out on his face.
“Sungjong-ah! You’re late!”
“I’m sorry, Dongwoo hyung but I had… something to attend to.”
Dongwoo strode over to the bench and grabbed his water bottle, gulping down some of it before throwing the bottle back onto the bench.
“It’s alright. I was just practicing my own choreo before you got here anyway.”
Sungjong smiled back at the other, flipping his bangs out of his eyes.
“I know, I saw. It’s quite amazing, if you ask me.”
Dongwoo chuckled before walking over closer to the other and ruffling Sungjong’s hair, earning and indignant whine from the other.
“Thanks.” A smirk was sent his way. “So, let’s dance?”
“Yes, let’s.”
----
It was about the fifth time that Sungjong messed up the choreography already, and although Dongwoo had unlimited patience, he was starting to get worried about his best friend.
“Hey, you seem off today. What’s up?”
The two sat down on the dance studio floor with their backs to the mirror, downing their bottles of water. Sungjong shook his head.
“Nothing’s wrong. I guess I’m just tired, is all.”
Sungjong did his best impression of seeming tired, and it seemed to work on the ever naïve Dongwoo.
“Oh, okay then. Get some more sleep when you can alright? Sleep is important!”
Sungjong nodded weakly at that, trying his best to give the other a smile.
As Dongwoo reached up to run a hand through his hair, Sungjong stared at the other’s glowing timer on his arm.
50 years, 4 days, 23 minutes and 7 seconds.
6 seconds.
5 seconds.
“Come on, Sungjong-ah! Let’s continue!”
Sungjong snapped out of his reverie only to be met with the other’s charming eye smile, which seemed to be contagious as he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his own face.
“Okay, hyung.”
----
Sungjong flinched away from the loud slam of the desk in front of him.
“10 hours, Lee Sungjong. You have 10 freaking hours and if I don’t see Jang Dongwoo dead in 10 hours, then you will have no time left.”
“But, boss…” Sungjong began with a quiet voice, shying away from the other’s intense gaze.
“Is it imperative that we kill him? Because if there’s a way for everything to be solved without killing him, then-“
“THERE IS NO WAY.” His boss’s loud and low voice echoed off the walls of the spacious office, making Sungjong shift uncomfortably on his chair.
“Do you think that the son of the biggest rival gang could possibly not be a threat to us? He’s dangerous and I’d be silly not to choose one of our best assassins to get the job done. Why do you think I chose you? Really, Lee Sungjong. Think about it.”
“But he doesn’t even know anything about his father, and-“
“Are you killing him or not?”
A thick silence filled the room they were in, seemingly suffocating as Sungjong took deep breaths while a million thoughts ran through his head.
“Well?”
Another moment of silence, yet this one was shorter.
“Yes.”
----
Sungjong got into his sleek car with a huff, shifting uncomfortably in the driver’s seat while drumming his fingers on the dashboard. He let out a frustrated groan before reaching over to start his car, his fingers gliding over the touch screen controls on his dashboard, calling a familiar number.
“Hello?” The voice of his best friend was heard through the speakers, and Sungjong let out a small sigh before answering.
“Dongwoo hyung? Can I come over?”
He bit his lip while waiting for an answer.
“Oh, Sungjong? Well of course you can, didn’t I say before that you were always welcome here?”
“Alright hyung. Be there in 10!”
----
In exactly 10 minutes, Sungjong was halfway across town, shutting down his car and getting out while slamming the car door in his frustration.
It was night and the road up to the front door of Dongwoo’s house was quiet save for the soft sound of footsteps made by Sungjong’s heavy black boots. He reached the door, pacing back and forth for a moment before raising a finger to press the doorbell. It wasn’t long before he heard a “Coming!” along with rapid footsteps gradually getting louder. Sungjong flinched back at the bang he heard from the door, and soon enough an out-of-breath Dongwoo appeared through the opening of the door, rubbing at his reddening forehead.
“Sorry, Sungjong. I kinda… crashed into the door there because I was running so fast.” Dongwoo explained, opening the door wider for the other to step in.
“It’s alright hyung. You alright?” Sungjong couldn’t help the smile on his face as he stepped inside the warm house, taking off his boots.
“Yeah I’m fine.” Dongwoo said with one of his signature smiles. “So, what’d you come by here for, Sungjong-ah?” The two of them walked over to the living room where Dongwoo simply clapped his hands, and the lights and fireplace turned on automatically.
Sungjong flopped down in exhaustion on one of the black couches, letting out a sigh before bringing up his gaze to meet Dongwoo’s, who was sitting on the couch opposite of him.
“Hyung, can you do me a favour?” Sungjong’s face was very serious, and that worried Dongwoo slightly because this was definitely not the always hyper and smiling dongsaeng he knew.
“Sure! I mean, you’re my best friend, I have no reason not to.”
At these words, Sungjong slipped his hand in his back pocket, pulling out a sleek, black gun. Dongwoo’s eyes widened, hand gripping the armrest of the couch tightly.
“S-Sungjong-ah-” Dongwoo barely had time to react before the gun was thrown his way, but due to his fast reaction he was able to catch it before it hit his face.
“Kill me, Dongwoo-hyung. Please.”
“What? Sungjong? What- no. No, I’m not going to kill you! Are you crazy? Why?”
“Hyung, please. Don’t ask questions and just do it.”
Dongwoo’s face darkened as he got up and walked on over so that he was towering over the sitting Sungjong.
“Lee Sungjong. I will not kill you for no reason. Heck, I won’t even kill you, period.” He threw the gun away off to the other corner of the room. He turned back to glare and Sungjong, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down.
“Now please, tell me what happened?”
----
“So you see, I’d rather die than kill my best friend. And if I had to die, I’d rather die in the hands of my best friend instead of whichever stupid god or whatever who thought that timing people’s lives is a good idea.”
Silence.
“Kill me.”
“No.”
“Do it now.”
“I said no!”
“Please!”
“Just, no! I’m not going to kill you, so would you shut up?”
For some time, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the both of their breathing, irregular and deep.
“… How much time do you have left?”
With a sigh, Sungjong rolled up his sleeve to show the glowing timer to the other. He compared his own 8 hours and 23 minutes to the other’s 50 years, 3 days and 2 hours.
“So that’s why you always wear long sleeved shirts.”
“Yeah.”
Neither Dongwoo or Sungjong knew what to say. After a long moment though, Dongwoo spoke up with a quiet voice.
“Hey, can you sleepover tonight? We’ll have the time of our lives okay?”
Sungjong gave the other a weak smile.
“Okay.”
----
5 hours later and it was already 3AM. The pair had done everything from playing holographic Call of Duty, virtual baseball, as well as singing karaoke until their voices went hoarse. Dongwoo smiled and turned to stare at this sleeping best friend sprawled across his bed. Shaking his head, he went and tucked the other in, giving him a smile.
“Sleep tight, Sungjong-ah.”
----
Morning came along and the sunlight filtering in through the blinds woke up the boy sleeping on the bed, and he sleepily stretched before sitting up while rubbing at his eyes.
“Wow, what a nice day it is, today.” Sungjong thought as he stretched some more while sitting on the bed, taking a look around. He realized with a delay in his train of thought that he was indeed not in his own room, on his own bed, but instead he was on Dongwoo’s bed, in Dongwoo’s bedroom. He also realized, as his eyes grew in shock, that he was very much still alive.
Unless, that is, heaven consisted of a room that looked exactly like Dongwoo’s.
Sungjong caught sight of a piece of bright green note paper placed on the surface of the night table beside the bed, and he recognized the messy handwriting of his best friend. He reached over and gingerly picked up the note, his eyes running across the words scrawled on the paper a few times before comprehending them with his mind still in a half-sleeping state.
Sungjong-ah!
Live your life to its fullest okay? Remember to pursue your dreams, because they make you who you are, and the only person who can stop you from achieving them is YOU!
-Dongwoo.
Sungjong hurriedly rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, his eyes widening and the bright green piece of note paper fluttering slowly from his limp hand, landing onto the bed sheets below.
50 years, 2 days, 17 hours and 23 minutes.