Super Junior {Hankyung/Heechul ; Run (9/13)}
Title: Run (9/13)
Fandom: Super Junior (AU)
Pairing: Hankyung/Heechul
Word count: 4,006
Rating: R (for violence and mature themes)
Summary: Hankyung and Heechul have been living together for four years now, and their relationship seems pretty much perfect. However, Hankyung has more skeletons in his closet than he has let on, and now his past is about to rear its ugly head in the worst way possible. The thing about lies is that they're remarkably difficult to ignore.
A/N: BAW DONGHAE. I don't think, originally, it was going to be Donghae who was the kid in this. I think I was just going to make something up. But Donghae is such a Hanchul shipper, that I just, he has to be the kid. He had to be. And you know Hanchul love kids.
Run (9/13)
YELLOW - Coldplay
Heechul worked two days in the bookstore without a single person coming in. It was easy money, if a little boring, but he could pick a book at random off the shelf and read it without having to buy it, a little like having his own personal library. The first soul he saw was a middle aged man buying the biography of a footballer. The next day, two young women came into the store, browsed the fiction section, then left without buying anything. People were, if anything, something of an unwanted distraction for Heechul.
Hankyung was hiding out in the flat. They'd decided that if anyone, Hankyung was the one who had to hide his face the most, so he stayed in and was currently passing his days watching television, bored out of his brains. He was generally better at lasting through hard situations than Heechul, but Heechul knew that he was going to crack before long. They were going to have to work something else out.
Since Heechul was going to be outside a lot more than Hankyung, it was decided that he should probably change his hairstyle; it was too distinctive. Armed with a pair of scissors, Hankyung set about cutting it shorter -- stopping only when Heechul put a shaking hand up and told him that would do. Hankyung would have preferred it shorter, but something about the way Heechul said it made him stop, and he swept up the remaining hair while Heechul disappeared into the bathroom to dye it back to black. Afterwards, he stood in the middle of the bedroom, in just his underwear, with the towel over his head and half covering his face, and Hankyung had felt like stabbing himself with the scissors that he still held.
Now, however, Heechul had the better end of the stick, and he was just trying to think of what they would be able to do to get Hankyung out of the flat when there was the sound of the bell over the door ringing. Heechul looked up, leaning against the counter with his head propped up by his hand, to see a boy of about nine or ten walking down towards him. He straightened up as the boy came directly to the counter and looked up at him. "Hello," he said.
"Hello," Heechul said, unsure. The boy was quite small and thin, dressed in the uniform of what must have been a nearby school. A check of the clock to his left showed that it would be about the time that schools let out. The boy's eyes looked at him carefully, intelligence deep in them, even though he looked generally blank faced. "Can I help you?"
"Why are you behind there?"
Heechul looked at the counter. "Because I work here."
"You never worked here before."
"I'm new. I only started a week ago."
"Oh." The boy bounced on the balls of his feet, hands against the edge of the counter. "I'm Donghae. Who are you?"
Heechul paused, then figured what the hell, he'd told Sukhee and this kid couldn't be a problem. "I'm Heechul."
"Do you like working here?"
"Yes." Heechul pulled his chair up behind him, figuring that he was going to be in this conversation for the long term. "Do you like it here?"
"Yeah, it's my favourite place in the village. Sukhee-noona lets me borrow books because I can't afford to buy any, but I do love to read."
"What kind of books do you like?"
Heechul found that he sat for over two hours talking to Donghae about their favourite books. Donghae was remarkably well read for someone only nine years old (something Donghae proudly announced when Heechul commented on how many books he had read) and seemed to favour science fiction over anything else. He had a great fascination with aliens and anything other-worldly, and after running out of books in that genre for his own age group, he had moved onto things meant for people much older than him. He was returning something that day that had made him apparently want to throw up because there had been kissing in it. Heechul cracked a smile at that, then checked the clock.
"Um, Donghae-yah? Shouldn't you be going home? Won't your parents be getting worried?"
"I don't have any parents," Donghae said cheerfully, surprising Heechul into silence. He hopped off the stool that Heechul had found him to sit on. "But I am hungry, so I should go home in time for dinner."
"Wait, did you say you don't have any parents?"
"Yup. I live at the orphanage. It's at the other end of the village. You have to walk down this dirt track to get there. It gets all dark in the winter, so I think that maybe I'll get abducted by aliens one day. That would be awesome. Can I call you hyung?"
Heechul was still focused on the fact that the boy he'd been talking to for the past two hours had just dropped that bombshell of being an orphan. "Huh? What? Oh -- yeah, sure, if you like."
Donghae seemed overjoyed at the prospect, and it was with a cheerful wave goodbye that he left the shop, the bell above the door ringing out a farewell that was just as cheerful. Heechul stood there for a few minutes. "I feel like I've just been hit by a whirlwind," he remarked to the shop at large and no one in particular, which was just as well, because there wasn't actually anybody else in the shop. Then he didn't say anything else, because he may have been eccentric but that didn't mean he made a habit of talking to himself.
"There was a boy in the store today," Heechul said that night, picking at his noodles. Hankyung looked at him in an interested, please go on sort of a way. "We talked about books for about two hours, it was ridiculous. He was really cute."
"Uh." The corner of Hankyung's mouth twitched. He was clearly gearing himself up for a witty comment that Heechul wouldn't find funny. Heechul sighed.
"What?"
"Nothing, just wasn't aware you were into pedophilia."
"I wasn't aware that I was into incest too, but since we've been telling people that we're brothers..."
"Okay, okay. I was joking."
"He was really happy and cheerful and I don't know, I've seen anyone with that much energy. But then when he was about to leave he said that he didn't have any parents. I don't understand how he could be so happy go lucky when he's an orphan."
Hankyung shrugged. "He may not have liked his parents. He may never have known them."
"Poor kid."
"Poor kid," agreed Hankyung. "Poor me, having to stay in this apartment all day. Can I come to work with you tomorrow?"
"If you promise to behave," Heechul said, glaring at him sternly. "No touching."
Hankyung's hand crept onto his knee underneath the table then scuttled a little higher, thumb rubbing idly against Heechul's lower inner thigh. "Well. I'll promise to not touch the books," he said, grinning.
Heechul pushed back on his chair, bringing his leg away from Hankyung's touch. Hankyung whined at him, and Heechul turned and left the living room/kitchen. "The great thing about this apartment," he called back when he was out of sight, Hankyung beginning to clear things away, "is that there is barely no walk from that room to the bedroom."
Hankyung lay everything he was holding carefully back on the table, then left the room as fast as he could without running like a pathetic loser. Heechul was hanging his shirt back up in the wardrobe. Hankyung caught him about the waist and pulled his back flush against him, nuzzling into his neck. One of his hands rested against Heechul's stomach, and Heechul wriggled against him then fell silent with a sigh, like it was a hardship. Hankyung kissed his shoulder.
"Your hair," he said, kind of like he was testing the water. "It looks like what it did when we first met."
Heechul didn't say anything, though his hands tightened around Hankyung's, against his stomach.
"It's quiet here," Hankyung said. "Sometimes, when I'm sitting in here, it's like my breathing is the only noise in the entire village. It's disconcerting."
"It's peaceful."
"I can't sleep, it's too quiet."
Heechul laughed and twisted in his arms to face him. "You too? I think we're somehow fundamentally damaged or something."
Hankyung smiled and pulled him down onto the bed, kissing him softly, and moved him over onto his back. Heechul's eyes were closed. Hankyung's hands wandered down over his chest, onto his stomach, unbuttoning his jeans as he captured Heechul's mouth, kissing him deeply. Heechul shifted against him, arms coming up to hold him closer. "You're not damaged in any way," Hankyung murmured, when they broke apart, Heechul's hands sliding under his t-shirt.
"You're damaged in the head," Heechul muttered. Hankyung smiled and pressed him down in the mattress.
Hankyung did end up trailing after him into the bookshop the next day. He had finally cracked, and Heechul didn't really blame him for it, so couldn't come up with any reason why he shouldn't be allowed. They'd managed a week so far without anything untoward happening; as far as Heechul was concerned, there was no real need to keep Hankyung cooped up in the flat. Luckily by this time, Hankyung needed so badly to get out that he didn't even think Heechul was taking this too casually.
Unluckily, it wasn't really that much more exciting in the bookstore. While Hankyung did now have company, Heechul didn't take too kindly to his daily routine of reading being disturbed, and so didn't let it be disturbed. He sat on his stool and read, while Hankyung wandered up and down the aisles whining and moaning about how bored he was. After about three hours of it, Heechul slammed his book store.
"Are you a child?" he demanded furiously. "Can you seriously not find anything to occupy yourself with?"
"No," Hankyung said, a little too honestly. Heechul glared at him. "Well, you won't talk to me!"
"You're twenty seven years old!"
Hankyung walked up to the sales desk and bent down a little so he could rest his chin against the surface, pouting up at Heechul. "But I'm bored, hyung."
There was a long pause, after which he stood up slowly. "That sounded odd," Heechul said.
"It sounded like the start of a really kinky role play," Hankyung agreed.
"Don't do that again," Heechul told him firmly, and then picked his book up again to continue where he had left off. Hankyung sighed, and left him to it, wandering off among the rest of the shelves to do heaven only knows what. Heechul didn't much care so long as he was left alone to read. Hankyung was still away somewhere in the shop when Heechul's shift finished; Sukhee came to let him off and Heechul decided that he should probably try to find Hankyung in case he had managed to get himself lost in amongst all the shelves.
It was a little, he mused as he wandered up and down, trying to find someone in a jungle. He rather felt like shouting out Hankyung's name just for the effect of it, though he managed to just about reel the urge in and stop himself. He searched through the non-fiction section, passed the section containing some Chinese books without seeing any sign of a corresponding Chinese man, and entered the science fiction and fantasy section.
Hankyung was sitting on the floor, long legs bent at the knee to accommodate them in the narrow space between the shelves. He had his back against the shelf on Heechul's left, and was leaning over a book, reading intently. It looked, to Heechul's eyes, remarkably uncomfortable. "Your back is going to hurt in the morning," he said, not really meaning to sound so gleeful. Hankyung jumped, then twisted in his position to hurriedly stuff the book back into a place on the shelf, then glanced guiltily at Heechul, but it was too late. Heechul had seen the cover of the book he'd been reading.
"You were reading one of my books."
Hankyung climbed to his feet, shoulder joints cracking a little painfully; he winced, then looked cautiously at Heechul. There had been too many emotions conflicting in his tone for Hankyung to be able to work out how to approach this. "Yes," he settled for.
Heechul took a faltering step forward. "What did you think?" he asked, face slightly turned away.
"It's amazing. Enthralling. Wonderful." Hankyung bent down and took the book from the place on the shelf and held it loosely in his hand. "Just like the last time I read it."
Heechul's head snapped around to stare at him. "Last time -- so you've already read it?"
Hankyung nodded. "This one," he said, holding it up. "And all the others too. Every single one."
"But you never even told me!"
"You didn't want me too. You liked telling me about them, but you never wanted me to read them, did you? You were too scared that I'd dislike them."
"I'm never scared."
"No," Hankyung said softly, putting the book back. "You are scared, Heechul. You're just scared of different things."
"Oh, really?"
Heechul was pissed, Hankyung could hear it in his voice, but he didn't try to protest when Hankyung wrapped his arms around his shoulders and rested his cheek against soft hair. "You're scared of rejection. You're scared of being caught out. You're scared that someone, someday, will say that you're not as brilliant as you make yourself out to be." Hankyung exhaled a sigh. "You're scared of not being the best."
The tension in Heechul's body suggested that he was getting ready to say something witty and biting, but when he spoke he was remarkably calm and quiet. "What are you scared of?"
"Me?" Hankyung lifted his head and put his chin on the top of Heechul's head. "I've lived too long being scared of dying to even care anymore. I'm only scared of one thing now. Losing you."
Heechul laughed, a little shakily. "You're the one who's scared of losing the person who writes books about near social destruction, Chinese secret agents, and unicorns. I think I'm the one who needs to be scared."
"A few eccentricities in a relationship never hurt anyone," Hankyung said, semi-serious. Heechul snorted at him and pulled away.
"So what did you really think?"
Hankyung stared at him. "I told you. I thought it was wonderful."
"Liar."
"I'm not lying."
"You don't like them. You can tell me."
"See?" Hankyung's voice was soft. "This is why I never told you. You'd never be able to accept that I loved them, you'd always be doubtful, when honestly, Heechul. Honestly. I loved them."
"Huh." Heechul turned away, mainly so Hankyung wouldn't be able to see the pink tinge across his nose; not that he'd be able to in the murky light of the narrow space between the shelves. "Come on, we should go home."
They were about to leave the store when a small boy walked in. "Hyung!" he said brightly, leaping forward to wrap his arms around Heechul's waist. Heechul, after a moment or two of surprised hesitation, hugged him back. It looked, some small part of Hankyung's subconscious noted, completely natural. This must have been Donghae. "Hyung, are you going home already?"
"I'm afraid so, Donghae," Heechul said, who still looked a little confused. "My shift is finished."
Donghae looked close to tears. "But hyung!" he wailed. "I was only coming in to see you!" Then, because he apparently had the attention span of a gnat, something which amused Hankyung a lot for some reason, he focused on Hankyung's face. "Who are you?" he wanted to know.
"I'm -- Hankyung," Hankyung said, a little nonplussed.
"How do you know hyung?"
Hankyung decided it was easiest to just stick with the story everyone else was told. "We're brothers."
Donghae frowned. Hankyung had made a mistake with him, he suddenly realised. He was a cute looking kid, didn't look too bright, but he was perceptive beyond his age. His firm statement of "You don't look alike," seemed to prove that.
"He's got a point," Heechul murmured.
"Shut up, you come up with something," Hankyung murmured back.
"Ah, is it a secret?" Donghae beamed at them. "I love secrets! Where are you going now?" Hankyung exhaled in relief. Perceptive Donghae may have proven himself, but he didn't seem too bothered about sticking with subjects.
"We're going home," Heechul said.
"Can I come?"
Hankyung raised an eyebrow. Heechul winced. "Don't you have to go home?"
"Nope!"
"Um." Hankyung decided it was his turn. "Donghae, didn't anyone ever tell you that you weren't supposed to go anywhere with strangers?"
"You're not strangers. You're Heechul-hyung and Hankyung-hyung. You're not strangers."
"Um." Hankyung glanced at Heechul. "Yeah, I got nothing."
"Donghae." Heechul bent down a little to look Donghae in the face. "Why don't you go talk to Suhkee-ah for a couple of minutes while Hankyung and I talk?"
Donghae frowned at them, sensing double crossing. "Will you still be here when I get back?"
"Of course," Heechul said, lips twitching. Donghae was practically as paranoid as him. "We'll just be a couple of minutes." He waited until Donghae was out of earshot before turning to Hankyung with a semi-desperation in his eyes. "Can't we just let him come for dinner?"
Hankyung laughed, a little incredulously. "You want the kid to come for dinner?"
"He wants to too."
"You've only known him two days. What will people say?"
Heechul blinked at him. "What could they possibly do? There's nothing illegal about it."
"I know, but." Hankyung struggled to find the words. "Two guys alone in an apartment with a young boy whom neither of them is related to. Doesn't it just seem suspicious?"
"Well, yeah," Heechul said, "when you put it like that."
"It'll be put like that, I can promise you."
"Oh, who gives a damn?" Heechul actually stamped his foot on the floor. "The poor kid doesn't have any parents and he lives in a place where nothing ever happens. Can you blame him for wanting some fun in his life? Why shouldn't we let him come to dinner?"
Hankyung sighed. "Heechul, you--"
"Yeah, okay? I think he's cute. I feel sorry for him. I don't know, Hankyung." He leaned against the wall, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. "I feel -- drawn to him, somehow."
"Oh, for--"
"Hyung, you didn't leave!"
Heechul's face broke out into a genuine smile that almost took Hankyung's breath away, but when he spoke, he was almost scornful. "Of course not. I don't go back on promises, Donghae, you should know that much at least." This seemed to make Donghae a little too happy, and Hankyung winced internally thinking about how many times the young boy in front of him had had promises broken to him. Heechul realised what he was thinking and looked at him expectantly. Hankyung snarled at him. Heechul smirked. "Hey, Donghae, want to come for dinner?"
Donghae stared, eyes going wide. "What, really?"
"We'd have to check with" -- Hankyung didn't really want to say orphanage -- "where you live, but if they say that you can, then you're welcome to stay."
Donghae was so excited that it began to get uncomfortable, simply because Hankyung wasn't sure how he would deal with it if the orphanage said that he wasn't allowed to stay. He kept up a stream of happy chatter as they climbed the back stairs up to their apartment, chatter that Heechul responded to in kind. Hankyung sighed a little as he opened the door and stepped inside. He still wasn't particularly happy with this. Donghae fell silent as he came in, and seemed to go a little shy.
"Here, I'll take your coat," Heechul said. Donghae nodded and slipped it from his shoulders, eyes turned to the ground. Heechul shot Hankyung an amused look. "Want to watch some television while Hankyung calls your home?"
"Yes please," Donghae said, barely more than a whisper. Heechul made a noise which may have been a snort quickly smothered, and ushered Donghae onto the sofa, flicking the television on and settling down beside him, flicking the station onto some terrible daytime drama. Hankyung rolled his eyes, went to dump Heechul's bag into the bedroom, then came back in and went to the telephone, picked up the receiver, then realised he didn't know what number he was supposed to be dialling.
He looked over at Donghae and Heechul. Donghae had relaxed already, really a boy of fleeting emotions. He was laughing at Heechul poking fun at what was happening on the screen, while simultaneously looking fascinated in the storyline. Hankyung felt a little sorry at having to draw him from that, but called out nonetheless. "Hey, Donghae, what's the telephone number for the -- place where you live?"
"Zero-four-three-two-two-four-seven," Donghae recited, like it was a number that had been ingrained in him. Hankyung smiled a little and dialled the number. There was a long stretch of it ringing before an harassed sounding woman picked it up.
"Hello, Sunny Life Orphanage?"
"Yeah, hi." Hankyung really should have thought about what he was going to say. "My name is Hankyung, I'm calling about Lee Donghae."
"Oh!" The woman sounded like she wasn't sure whether to be worried or simply neutral. "Is he okay? He hasn't gotten into an accident, has he? He's awfully liable to accidents."
"No, no, nothing like that," Hankyung reassured, although he was sure that Donghae did get into a lot of accidents; he seemed like the type. "Actually, he's at my apartment right now. I'm sorry for the sudden request, but my -- brother" -- Hankyung winced -- "would like to have Donghae to stay for dinner tonight."
There was a long, surprised silence. "Oh," said the woman.
"I understand that it may be too short notice, and that you have never heard from me before today, but..." Hankyung trailed off a little and then said helplessly, "Donghae really wanted to stay."
"Ah," said the woman, a smile in her voice. "Ah, I think I understand now. Has he simply invited himself along?"
Hankyung couldn't help his laugh. "No, he hasn't, not really. Honestly, we'd be happy to have him. My -- brother is taken with him. We're happy to drop him back home afterwards as well."
"Well," the woman said doubtfully. "It would be helping me a lot. Could I speak to Donghae, please?"
Hankyung covered the receiver with his hand. "Donghae, your -- she wants to speak to you."
Donghae hopped off his seat on the sofa and came over to the kitchen area, where he took the phone and sat on one of the chairs next to the table, legs swinging back and forth as he listened to the woman on the other end. "Yes!" he said enthusiastically. "Yes, I really, really want to!" Then, more doubtfully, "I don't think they mind."
"We don't," Heechul called. "Donghae, we really don't."
"Heechul-hyung said they don't mind," Donghae said triumphantly. He listened to the woman for a minute or so more, every so often saying, "yeah," in a bored tone, which made Hankyung rather think that he was getting lectured at on all the things it was necessary to do when at dinner at someone's else's house. He vaguely remembered similar things from his own childhood. He sat down on the sofa next to Heechul.
"Okay, bye!" Donghae said happily, and bounded over to the telephone and hung up. "She says it's fine," he added, coming back over to the sofa. He looked critically at it, then fitted himself in between Hankyung and Heechul. Heechul barely even seemed to notice, returning to watching the show. Hankyung stared down at the top of Donghae's head. Whatever else this kid was, shy he wasn't.
Fandom: Super Junior (AU)
Pairing: Hankyung/Heechul
Word count: 4,006
Rating: R (for violence and mature themes)
Summary: Hankyung and Heechul have been living together for four years now, and their relationship seems pretty much perfect. However, Hankyung has more skeletons in his closet than he has let on, and now his past is about to rear its ugly head in the worst way possible. The thing about lies is that they're remarkably difficult to ignore.
A/N: BAW DONGHAE. I don't think, originally, it was going to be Donghae who was the kid in this. I think I was just going to make something up. But Donghae is such a Hanchul shipper, that I just, he has to be the kid. He had to be. And you know Hanchul love kids.
Run (9/13)
YELLOW - Coldplay
Heechul worked two days in the bookstore without a single person coming in. It was easy money, if a little boring, but he could pick a book at random off the shelf and read it without having to buy it, a little like having his own personal library. The first soul he saw was a middle aged man buying the biography of a footballer. The next day, two young women came into the store, browsed the fiction section, then left without buying anything. People were, if anything, something of an unwanted distraction for Heechul.
Hankyung was hiding out in the flat. They'd decided that if anyone, Hankyung was the one who had to hide his face the most, so he stayed in and was currently passing his days watching television, bored out of his brains. He was generally better at lasting through hard situations than Heechul, but Heechul knew that he was going to crack before long. They were going to have to work something else out.
Since Heechul was going to be outside a lot more than Hankyung, it was decided that he should probably change his hairstyle; it was too distinctive. Armed with a pair of scissors, Hankyung set about cutting it shorter -- stopping only when Heechul put a shaking hand up and told him that would do. Hankyung would have preferred it shorter, but something about the way Heechul said it made him stop, and he swept up the remaining hair while Heechul disappeared into the bathroom to dye it back to black. Afterwards, he stood in the middle of the bedroom, in just his underwear, with the towel over his head and half covering his face, and Hankyung had felt like stabbing himself with the scissors that he still held.
Now, however, Heechul had the better end of the stick, and he was just trying to think of what they would be able to do to get Hankyung out of the flat when there was the sound of the bell over the door ringing. Heechul looked up, leaning against the counter with his head propped up by his hand, to see a boy of about nine or ten walking down towards him. He straightened up as the boy came directly to the counter and looked up at him. "Hello," he said.
"Hello," Heechul said, unsure. The boy was quite small and thin, dressed in the uniform of what must have been a nearby school. A check of the clock to his left showed that it would be about the time that schools let out. The boy's eyes looked at him carefully, intelligence deep in them, even though he looked generally blank faced. "Can I help you?"
"Why are you behind there?"
Heechul looked at the counter. "Because I work here."
"You never worked here before."
"I'm new. I only started a week ago."
"Oh." The boy bounced on the balls of his feet, hands against the edge of the counter. "I'm Donghae. Who are you?"
Heechul paused, then figured what the hell, he'd told Sukhee and this kid couldn't be a problem. "I'm Heechul."
"Do you like working here?"
"Yes." Heechul pulled his chair up behind him, figuring that he was going to be in this conversation for the long term. "Do you like it here?"
"Yeah, it's my favourite place in the village. Sukhee-noona lets me borrow books because I can't afford to buy any, but I do love to read."
"What kind of books do you like?"
Heechul found that he sat for over two hours talking to Donghae about their favourite books. Donghae was remarkably well read for someone only nine years old (something Donghae proudly announced when Heechul commented on how many books he had read) and seemed to favour science fiction over anything else. He had a great fascination with aliens and anything other-worldly, and after running out of books in that genre for his own age group, he had moved onto things meant for people much older than him. He was returning something that day that had made him apparently want to throw up because there had been kissing in it. Heechul cracked a smile at that, then checked the clock.
"Um, Donghae-yah? Shouldn't you be going home? Won't your parents be getting worried?"
"I don't have any parents," Donghae said cheerfully, surprising Heechul into silence. He hopped off the stool that Heechul had found him to sit on. "But I am hungry, so I should go home in time for dinner."
"Wait, did you say you don't have any parents?"
"Yup. I live at the orphanage. It's at the other end of the village. You have to walk down this dirt track to get there. It gets all dark in the winter, so I think that maybe I'll get abducted by aliens one day. That would be awesome. Can I call you hyung?"
Heechul was still focused on the fact that the boy he'd been talking to for the past two hours had just dropped that bombshell of being an orphan. "Huh? What? Oh -- yeah, sure, if you like."
Donghae seemed overjoyed at the prospect, and it was with a cheerful wave goodbye that he left the shop, the bell above the door ringing out a farewell that was just as cheerful. Heechul stood there for a few minutes. "I feel like I've just been hit by a whirlwind," he remarked to the shop at large and no one in particular, which was just as well, because there wasn't actually anybody else in the shop. Then he didn't say anything else, because he may have been eccentric but that didn't mean he made a habit of talking to himself.
"There was a boy in the store today," Heechul said that night, picking at his noodles. Hankyung looked at him in an interested, please go on sort of a way. "We talked about books for about two hours, it was ridiculous. He was really cute."
"Uh." The corner of Hankyung's mouth twitched. He was clearly gearing himself up for a witty comment that Heechul wouldn't find funny. Heechul sighed.
"What?"
"Nothing, just wasn't aware you were into pedophilia."
"I wasn't aware that I was into incest too, but since we've been telling people that we're brothers..."
"Okay, okay. I was joking."
"He was really happy and cheerful and I don't know, I've seen anyone with that much energy. But then when he was about to leave he said that he didn't have any parents. I don't understand how he could be so happy go lucky when he's an orphan."
Hankyung shrugged. "He may not have liked his parents. He may never have known them."
"Poor kid."
"Poor kid," agreed Hankyung. "Poor me, having to stay in this apartment all day. Can I come to work with you tomorrow?"
"If you promise to behave," Heechul said, glaring at him sternly. "No touching."
Hankyung's hand crept onto his knee underneath the table then scuttled a little higher, thumb rubbing idly against Heechul's lower inner thigh. "Well. I'll promise to not touch the books," he said, grinning.
Heechul pushed back on his chair, bringing his leg away from Hankyung's touch. Hankyung whined at him, and Heechul turned and left the living room/kitchen. "The great thing about this apartment," he called back when he was out of sight, Hankyung beginning to clear things away, "is that there is barely no walk from that room to the bedroom."
Hankyung lay everything he was holding carefully back on the table, then left the room as fast as he could without running like a pathetic loser. Heechul was hanging his shirt back up in the wardrobe. Hankyung caught him about the waist and pulled his back flush against him, nuzzling into his neck. One of his hands rested against Heechul's stomach, and Heechul wriggled against him then fell silent with a sigh, like it was a hardship. Hankyung kissed his shoulder.
"Your hair," he said, kind of like he was testing the water. "It looks like what it did when we first met."
Heechul didn't say anything, though his hands tightened around Hankyung's, against his stomach.
"It's quiet here," Hankyung said. "Sometimes, when I'm sitting in here, it's like my breathing is the only noise in the entire village. It's disconcerting."
"It's peaceful."
"I can't sleep, it's too quiet."
Heechul laughed and twisted in his arms to face him. "You too? I think we're somehow fundamentally damaged or something."
Hankyung smiled and pulled him down onto the bed, kissing him softly, and moved him over onto his back. Heechul's eyes were closed. Hankyung's hands wandered down over his chest, onto his stomach, unbuttoning his jeans as he captured Heechul's mouth, kissing him deeply. Heechul shifted against him, arms coming up to hold him closer. "You're not damaged in any way," Hankyung murmured, when they broke apart, Heechul's hands sliding under his t-shirt.
"You're damaged in the head," Heechul muttered. Hankyung smiled and pressed him down in the mattress.
Hankyung did end up trailing after him into the bookshop the next day. He had finally cracked, and Heechul didn't really blame him for it, so couldn't come up with any reason why he shouldn't be allowed. They'd managed a week so far without anything untoward happening; as far as Heechul was concerned, there was no real need to keep Hankyung cooped up in the flat. Luckily by this time, Hankyung needed so badly to get out that he didn't even think Heechul was taking this too casually.
Unluckily, it wasn't really that much more exciting in the bookstore. While Hankyung did now have company, Heechul didn't take too kindly to his daily routine of reading being disturbed, and so didn't let it be disturbed. He sat on his stool and read, while Hankyung wandered up and down the aisles whining and moaning about how bored he was. After about three hours of it, Heechul slammed his book store.
"Are you a child?" he demanded furiously. "Can you seriously not find anything to occupy yourself with?"
"No," Hankyung said, a little too honestly. Heechul glared at him. "Well, you won't talk to me!"
"You're twenty seven years old!"
Hankyung walked up to the sales desk and bent down a little so he could rest his chin against the surface, pouting up at Heechul. "But I'm bored, hyung."
There was a long pause, after which he stood up slowly. "That sounded odd," Heechul said.
"It sounded like the start of a really kinky role play," Hankyung agreed.
"Don't do that again," Heechul told him firmly, and then picked his book up again to continue where he had left off. Hankyung sighed, and left him to it, wandering off among the rest of the shelves to do heaven only knows what. Heechul didn't much care so long as he was left alone to read. Hankyung was still away somewhere in the shop when Heechul's shift finished; Sukhee came to let him off and Heechul decided that he should probably try to find Hankyung in case he had managed to get himself lost in amongst all the shelves.
It was a little, he mused as he wandered up and down, trying to find someone in a jungle. He rather felt like shouting out Hankyung's name just for the effect of it, though he managed to just about reel the urge in and stop himself. He searched through the non-fiction section, passed the section containing some Chinese books without seeing any sign of a corresponding Chinese man, and entered the science fiction and fantasy section.
Hankyung was sitting on the floor, long legs bent at the knee to accommodate them in the narrow space between the shelves. He had his back against the shelf on Heechul's left, and was leaning over a book, reading intently. It looked, to Heechul's eyes, remarkably uncomfortable. "Your back is going to hurt in the morning," he said, not really meaning to sound so gleeful. Hankyung jumped, then twisted in his position to hurriedly stuff the book back into a place on the shelf, then glanced guiltily at Heechul, but it was too late. Heechul had seen the cover of the book he'd been reading.
"You were reading one of my books."
Hankyung climbed to his feet, shoulder joints cracking a little painfully; he winced, then looked cautiously at Heechul. There had been too many emotions conflicting in his tone for Hankyung to be able to work out how to approach this. "Yes," he settled for.
Heechul took a faltering step forward. "What did you think?" he asked, face slightly turned away.
"It's amazing. Enthralling. Wonderful." Hankyung bent down and took the book from the place on the shelf and held it loosely in his hand. "Just like the last time I read it."
Heechul's head snapped around to stare at him. "Last time -- so you've already read it?"
Hankyung nodded. "This one," he said, holding it up. "And all the others too. Every single one."
"But you never even told me!"
"You didn't want me too. You liked telling me about them, but you never wanted me to read them, did you? You were too scared that I'd dislike them."
"I'm never scared."
"No," Hankyung said softly, putting the book back. "You are scared, Heechul. You're just scared of different things."
"Oh, really?"
Heechul was pissed, Hankyung could hear it in his voice, but he didn't try to protest when Hankyung wrapped his arms around his shoulders and rested his cheek against soft hair. "You're scared of rejection. You're scared of being caught out. You're scared that someone, someday, will say that you're not as brilliant as you make yourself out to be." Hankyung exhaled a sigh. "You're scared of not being the best."
The tension in Heechul's body suggested that he was getting ready to say something witty and biting, but when he spoke he was remarkably calm and quiet. "What are you scared of?"
"Me?" Hankyung lifted his head and put his chin on the top of Heechul's head. "I've lived too long being scared of dying to even care anymore. I'm only scared of one thing now. Losing you."
Heechul laughed, a little shakily. "You're the one who's scared of losing the person who writes books about near social destruction, Chinese secret agents, and unicorns. I think I'm the one who needs to be scared."
"A few eccentricities in a relationship never hurt anyone," Hankyung said, semi-serious. Heechul snorted at him and pulled away.
"So what did you really think?"
Hankyung stared at him. "I told you. I thought it was wonderful."
"Liar."
"I'm not lying."
"You don't like them. You can tell me."
"See?" Hankyung's voice was soft. "This is why I never told you. You'd never be able to accept that I loved them, you'd always be doubtful, when honestly, Heechul. Honestly. I loved them."
"Huh." Heechul turned away, mainly so Hankyung wouldn't be able to see the pink tinge across his nose; not that he'd be able to in the murky light of the narrow space between the shelves. "Come on, we should go home."
They were about to leave the store when a small boy walked in. "Hyung!" he said brightly, leaping forward to wrap his arms around Heechul's waist. Heechul, after a moment or two of surprised hesitation, hugged him back. It looked, some small part of Hankyung's subconscious noted, completely natural. This must have been Donghae. "Hyung, are you going home already?"
"I'm afraid so, Donghae," Heechul said, who still looked a little confused. "My shift is finished."
Donghae looked close to tears. "But hyung!" he wailed. "I was only coming in to see you!" Then, because he apparently had the attention span of a gnat, something which amused Hankyung a lot for some reason, he focused on Hankyung's face. "Who are you?" he wanted to know.
"I'm -- Hankyung," Hankyung said, a little nonplussed.
"How do you know hyung?"
Hankyung decided it was easiest to just stick with the story everyone else was told. "We're brothers."
Donghae frowned. Hankyung had made a mistake with him, he suddenly realised. He was a cute looking kid, didn't look too bright, but he was perceptive beyond his age. His firm statement of "You don't look alike," seemed to prove that.
"He's got a point," Heechul murmured.
"Shut up, you come up with something," Hankyung murmured back.
"Ah, is it a secret?" Donghae beamed at them. "I love secrets! Where are you going now?" Hankyung exhaled in relief. Perceptive Donghae may have proven himself, but he didn't seem too bothered about sticking with subjects.
"We're going home," Heechul said.
"Can I come?"
Hankyung raised an eyebrow. Heechul winced. "Don't you have to go home?"
"Nope!"
"Um." Hankyung decided it was his turn. "Donghae, didn't anyone ever tell you that you weren't supposed to go anywhere with strangers?"
"You're not strangers. You're Heechul-hyung and Hankyung-hyung. You're not strangers."
"Um." Hankyung glanced at Heechul. "Yeah, I got nothing."
"Donghae." Heechul bent down a little to look Donghae in the face. "Why don't you go talk to Suhkee-ah for a couple of minutes while Hankyung and I talk?"
Donghae frowned at them, sensing double crossing. "Will you still be here when I get back?"
"Of course," Heechul said, lips twitching. Donghae was practically as paranoid as him. "We'll just be a couple of minutes." He waited until Donghae was out of earshot before turning to Hankyung with a semi-desperation in his eyes. "Can't we just let him come for dinner?"
Hankyung laughed, a little incredulously. "You want the kid to come for dinner?"
"He wants to too."
"You've only known him two days. What will people say?"
Heechul blinked at him. "What could they possibly do? There's nothing illegal about it."
"I know, but." Hankyung struggled to find the words. "Two guys alone in an apartment with a young boy whom neither of them is related to. Doesn't it just seem suspicious?"
"Well, yeah," Heechul said, "when you put it like that."
"It'll be put like that, I can promise you."
"Oh, who gives a damn?" Heechul actually stamped his foot on the floor. "The poor kid doesn't have any parents and he lives in a place where nothing ever happens. Can you blame him for wanting some fun in his life? Why shouldn't we let him come to dinner?"
Hankyung sighed. "Heechul, you--"
"Yeah, okay? I think he's cute. I feel sorry for him. I don't know, Hankyung." He leaned against the wall, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. "I feel -- drawn to him, somehow."
"Oh, for--"
"Hyung, you didn't leave!"
Heechul's face broke out into a genuine smile that almost took Hankyung's breath away, but when he spoke, he was almost scornful. "Of course not. I don't go back on promises, Donghae, you should know that much at least." This seemed to make Donghae a little too happy, and Hankyung winced internally thinking about how many times the young boy in front of him had had promises broken to him. Heechul realised what he was thinking and looked at him expectantly. Hankyung snarled at him. Heechul smirked. "Hey, Donghae, want to come for dinner?"
Donghae stared, eyes going wide. "What, really?"
"We'd have to check with" -- Hankyung didn't really want to say orphanage -- "where you live, but if they say that you can, then you're welcome to stay."
Donghae was so excited that it began to get uncomfortable, simply because Hankyung wasn't sure how he would deal with it if the orphanage said that he wasn't allowed to stay. He kept up a stream of happy chatter as they climbed the back stairs up to their apartment, chatter that Heechul responded to in kind. Hankyung sighed a little as he opened the door and stepped inside. He still wasn't particularly happy with this. Donghae fell silent as he came in, and seemed to go a little shy.
"Here, I'll take your coat," Heechul said. Donghae nodded and slipped it from his shoulders, eyes turned to the ground. Heechul shot Hankyung an amused look. "Want to watch some television while Hankyung calls your home?"
"Yes please," Donghae said, barely more than a whisper. Heechul made a noise which may have been a snort quickly smothered, and ushered Donghae onto the sofa, flicking the television on and settling down beside him, flicking the station onto some terrible daytime drama. Hankyung rolled his eyes, went to dump Heechul's bag into the bedroom, then came back in and went to the telephone, picked up the receiver, then realised he didn't know what number he was supposed to be dialling.
He looked over at Donghae and Heechul. Donghae had relaxed already, really a boy of fleeting emotions. He was laughing at Heechul poking fun at what was happening on the screen, while simultaneously looking fascinated in the storyline. Hankyung felt a little sorry at having to draw him from that, but called out nonetheless. "Hey, Donghae, what's the telephone number for the -- place where you live?"
"Zero-four-three-two-two-four-seven," Donghae recited, like it was a number that had been ingrained in him. Hankyung smiled a little and dialled the number. There was a long stretch of it ringing before an harassed sounding woman picked it up.
"Hello, Sunny Life Orphanage?"
"Yeah, hi." Hankyung really should have thought about what he was going to say. "My name is Hankyung, I'm calling about Lee Donghae."
"Oh!" The woman sounded like she wasn't sure whether to be worried or simply neutral. "Is he okay? He hasn't gotten into an accident, has he? He's awfully liable to accidents."
"No, no, nothing like that," Hankyung reassured, although he was sure that Donghae did get into a lot of accidents; he seemed like the type. "Actually, he's at my apartment right now. I'm sorry for the sudden request, but my -- brother" -- Hankyung winced -- "would like to have Donghae to stay for dinner tonight."
There was a long, surprised silence. "Oh," said the woman.
"I understand that it may be too short notice, and that you have never heard from me before today, but..." Hankyung trailed off a little and then said helplessly, "Donghae really wanted to stay."
"Ah," said the woman, a smile in her voice. "Ah, I think I understand now. Has he simply invited himself along?"
Hankyung couldn't help his laugh. "No, he hasn't, not really. Honestly, we'd be happy to have him. My -- brother is taken with him. We're happy to drop him back home afterwards as well."
"Well," the woman said doubtfully. "It would be helping me a lot. Could I speak to Donghae, please?"
Hankyung covered the receiver with his hand. "Donghae, your -- she wants to speak to you."
Donghae hopped off his seat on the sofa and came over to the kitchen area, where he took the phone and sat on one of the chairs next to the table, legs swinging back and forth as he listened to the woman on the other end. "Yes!" he said enthusiastically. "Yes, I really, really want to!" Then, more doubtfully, "I don't think they mind."
"We don't," Heechul called. "Donghae, we really don't."
"Heechul-hyung said they don't mind," Donghae said triumphantly. He listened to the woman for a minute or so more, every so often saying, "yeah," in a bored tone, which made Hankyung rather think that he was getting lectured at on all the things it was necessary to do when at dinner at someone's else's house. He vaguely remembered similar things from his own childhood. He sat down on the sofa next to Heechul.
"Okay, bye!" Donghae said happily, and bounded over to the telephone and hung up. "She says it's fine," he added, coming back over to the sofa. He looked critically at it, then fitted himself in between Hankyung and Heechul. Heechul barely even seemed to notice, returning to watching the show. Hankyung stared down at the top of Donghae's head. Whatever else this kid was, shy he wasn't.