Away (4/?)
Title: Away ; chapter 4
Fandom/Pairing: Super Junior, f(x) ; Heechul/Hankyung
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Heechul's gotten himself into something tangled, he just knows it. Life away from former expectations was supposed to be easier, but so far things are still just complicated.
Note: it was fricken LABOR DAY when i posted this chapter, that's more than a month ago! x_x
Word count: 3212
Chapter 4;
Wrong Way
-
It had been four hours, and Sulli was already fastened to Victoria, by the hip practically. Probably had something to do with the fact that they were both girls, and Sulli had been surrounded by men (and boys) up until this point. Heechul ruled out Krystal-he didn't know anything about the other little girl, so he'd keep her out of the equation until he knew more.
Basically, so much for Sulli not taking to strangers. And both Hankyung and Victoria-and the kids-had confirmed that she'd never met said children before. Well, they weren't so much children when she was just a year younger than Donghae. Yet they would both claim the age of sixteen until Donghae's birthday, as the boy had made a point to say earlier.
In another realm of thought, Heechul couldn't explain a sudden need for nicotine. Yes, cigarettes. He hasn't had cravings since almost two Februaries ago, when he was eighteen. It felt weird, having this craving now. He'd quiet, he'd quit when he stopped being friends with that Kim Jongwoon in high school, when they'd gone their separate ways. Oh, and also when his parents caught him trying to hide a pack in his desk. That'd been an interesting month afterward.
Heechul supposed he could have kept smoking in secret again, to piss off his parents, but the want to do so died down only ten minutes after the thought-when he'd been in his sister's car to drive down to the closest gas station.
Towards the end of his thought train, Victoria came into the kitchen with a few plates stacked in her hands. "Sulli's officially the cutest little girl I've ever been around," she said.
"Yeah," Heechul mused, still with one foot in memories of old smokes and angry parents, and a noona. "She's adorable."
"You okay, oppa?"
Heechul grunted. "Fine, why?"
"Just asking is all. You're a guest, I like to take care of my guests," she shrugged, taking out a sponge. She started up on the dirty dishes she'd just brought in, and Heechul guessed that she'd been feeding Sulli and Henry-at least one other person besides Sulli, judging by the number of plates.
"You're very considerate," he stated.
Victoria flicked some water at him, inciting a yelp. She giggled and tried to hide her smile with her hair.
"Your considerate behavior just vanished."
"That was my goal."
Heechul scrunched his eyebrows together. "Well isn't that weird."
She giggled again.
"But anyway," Heechul said, now sitting on the kitchen counter. "I like your style. You know, I'll probably run out of clean clothes soon. You should take me around shopping."
Victoria shut off the faucet. "It sounds like you're asking me on a date, I'm only sixteen, in case you forgot."
Heechul gave a single laugh, loud and punctuating. Enough to startle Victoria. "Trust me, I'm not into you that way."
She picked up the dishtowel hanging off the handle of the bottom cupboard to wipe her hands with. "Okay. Do you want to go now?"
"Now?"
"Yeah, it's within walking distance-or at least, it's about a half-hour walking," she paused and analyzed Heechul's pursed lips, displeased face. "Or we could take my bike?"
The expression on Heechul's face remained the same. He wasn't having it. "Let's ask Hankyung for his car," he suggested, and without waiting for her to reply, he hopped off his seat and headed off to find Hankyung.
Victoria spun around, hand outstretched. "Oppa-" But he'd already gone ahead.
He was standing in the bathroom, door only cracked, with Kyuhyun next to him and a few boxes of bandages on the counter when Heechul found him. Heechul knocked on the doorframe and pushed it open a bit more, and Hankyung appeared to have almost jumped right out of his skin. It's true that Heechul noticed the wounds on Kyuhyun's back now that what was beyond the orange band-aid from before was exposed, but it's also true that he didn't think before knocking about how either the fifteen-year-old or Hankyung would feel about him seeing the red streaks and shallow gashes. Kyuhyun's face went white, and Hankyung's jaw dropped.
"Kyu, wait for a second," Hankyung pulled a towel-as white as Kyuhyun's expression-and draped it over him. Heechul was ready to stumble out of the doorway and back into the kitchen, but Hankyung had already grabbed his wrist and tugged him towards the stairs.
Heechul was about to trip on the first step, but Hankyung made sure to keep him stable. They stayed standing. "Hankyung, I-"
"What do you want?" Hankyung asked, like a parent being bothered by an incessant middle child.
"Whoa, calm down," Heechul held up the one hand of his that wasn't being held hostage, in use of his defense. "I just needed to ask to borrow something."
Hankyung pinched the bridge of his own nose and shut his eyes. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I just, I overreacted."
"I'll say-"
"I just wasn't expecting you to see that."
Heechul still didn't have his other hand back. Hankyung's hand was locked around the wrist. It was almost too tight, but Heechul kind of liked how Hankyung's hand felt. "You didn't…?"
"Do that to him?" Hankyung's eyes went wider than they had a few seconds ago. "Do that to Kyuhyun?"
"Sorry I asked," Heechul attempted to get the freedom of his hand back. "Can't blame me for asking, since you pulled him out of that house, you know?
"I could never do that to him-it's because this happened to him that I had to get him out, do you understand me?" Hankyung's grip didn't tighten, but for a second, Heechul was worried that it would. "Heechul, I know we haven't known each other for long, but you can't expect me to do something like that to a teenager! Heechul-"
"I said I was sorry I asked, Hankyung, for fuck's sake!" Heechul broke free, throwing his hands into the air. "Just accept my apology and give me your car keys so Victoria can take me shopping, dammit!"
Hankyung's face went blank. "Are you serious?"
"Um, yeah."
He sighed, lips forming into a straight line. "Not right now, Heechul-I don't…I don't know."
"Oppa," Victoria's voice suddenly calls out to them, and between the two of them, it was easy to figure out she meant Heechul. For some reason, Heechul didn't know why, she called Hankyung 'ge'. And also 'Han Geng', but he would look more into this another time. "Oppa, let's go."
Heechul dropped the car thing and left Hankyung's side. Victoria obviously had some kind of bad tension sense, it must've been why she intervened in the first place. He followed her to the front door, where she handed him a jingling set of keys.
"My dad's," she said. "He took the bus to work today."
"Why didn't you tell me before?" Heechul asked through a half-bewildered expression.
"You weren't listening to me."
Heechul drove, of course. Victoria was too young to, although she said that her dad promised to give her early lessons once he had more time off from work. Apparently her dad was preparing himself for the necessity of leaving the car for her to use while he was out, and therefore he'd taken the bus today. And he's done that three days this week, so far. Heechul nodded and kept at least one hand on the wheel the whole time, still thinking about the drama unfolding back at the house. The stuff he'd caused, in a way. Part of him wanted to talk to Kyuhyun, but the majority just wanted to talk to Hankyung. Yet he was talking with Victoria now.
He supposed that made sense and didn't make sense all at the same time. After all, he'd been the one to suggest shopping together in the first place. So of course, they went shopping together. Victoria was considerate as he'd described her, and Heechul was eager for a chance to exercise his fashionable mind again since he'd left. Sure, it hadn't been that long ago, but for Heechul, it felt like ages.
"Dammit, Heechul, why do you always have to look so good in anything I dress you in?" Heejin covered her mouth when she laughed. She seemed ready to pick up the camera the moment Heechul came out from behind the curtain. "Look at yourself for a second. Tell me noona didn't pick something you'd like."
Heechul strode over to the mirror his sister had set up for the shoot, just for him. Floor length and vertical and showing off just how great Heechul could make any outfit seem. Then again, Heejin had a knack for slapping clothes on her baby brother and having it always work for him.
"Oh, I do look good," he mused, flicking a few stray hairs to the side.
"You always do," she patted his shoulder. "Okay, come on, let's do this. You have to get me into my top school, baby."
"You don't need me to do that," Heechul scoffed, standing just where she wanted him to. He posed just right, and she loved him for that, among other reasons.
"But I do," she focused her lens, and then took the first shot. "I always need you, Heechul."
Heechul took on another pose. He wanted to say the same to her, but nothing came out. When she instructed him to tilt his head downwards slightly, he did-
"Oppa. Oppa!"
Heechul's mind came back, remembering the destination he'd planned with Victoria. Victoria. "What?"
"You missed the last turn, it was a left."
"Sorry, kid," he said. "No big deal. I'll just turn around."
She ignored the fact that he decided to pull an illegal move with a fancy u-turn with below average execution. Not-so-fancy, really. It only took a few minutes longer to get to the mall than Victoria had thought it would. Heechul hadn't even been speeding. Or if he had, she never noticed it, he could've been good at concealing it within changing the radio a plethora of times and tapping his fingers on the wheel. She hoped he wasn't this antsy all the time.
It turned out that the first place in the mall she took him to was perfect, he wandered around the store without her help-she assumed he wouldn't really need help, anyway. He didn't really seem like the type to need it. Heechul moved about the place like he'd been there thousands of times before, and somehow he had enough money to pay for the things he wanted, within reason, and paid for a few of Victoria's things as well.
When she asked him how he could manage to pull all this money out of nowhere, he shrugged and told her how he'd won the lottery not too long ago. It was an obvious lie, and Victoria laughed, covering her mouth at the same time.
Heechul wore this new pair of sunglasses he'd bought. It wasn't particularly sunny out that day, but it wasn't necessarily gray either. So it was probably safe to assume that he just felt like wearing them. "They make you feel cool," he said as an explanation. "Not that I absolutely need them, I just like them. Here, wear them for sec."
He handed them over, eyes still planted on the road, one hand still on the wheel. He turned on the CD player when he brought his other hand back to steer, but cringed when he heard the music.
"Sorry, it's my dad's," Victoria explained.
"It's fucking classical," Heechul wrinkled his nose.
"You don't like it?"
"Not at the moment," he said. "Some days, I appreciate. Today is not one of those days."
"Okay," she shrugged and opened the glove compartment. "I think I have one of mine in here. What do you think about Jay Chou?"
"Sure, anything."
"Han Geng-ge's a fan," she said as she pressed the 'load' button and waited for the little screen to tell her to insert the disc.
"Why do you call him that?"
"Han Geng-ge?"
"Yeah, that. His name's Hankyung..."
Victoria giggled. "That's his Korean name, oppa. It's what his teachers and classmates called him when we came to this country. His Chinese name is Han Geng."
"Oh."
"And 'ge' is like 'oppa' for us. Well, it's basically what you call anyone older than you in China. I'd call you that, but-"
"Would you?"
"Heechul-ge?" she was still wearing his sunglasses, and they looked a little big on her face.
"Yeah," he glanced at her. "I don't see why not."
"It sounds funny," she folded her arms over her chest. "Hm, what about Xiche-ge?"
"Xiche?"
"I think that'd be your Chinese name. We should ask Han Geng-ge, he's good at figuring these kinds of things out," she noted. "I never got a Korean name, though. They just call me Victoria."
"Oh," he was almost tempted to ask her if he could give her a Korean name, but he figured that would be strange of him. Then again, he's always been strange, he had to admit.
"Xiche has a nice ring to it," she said, handing his sunglasses back.
Heechul nodded. "Yeah, it does. Thanks, Vicky," he fitted the glasses back over his eyes. "By the way, I'm calling you that from now on."
-
Hankyung was fast asleep, napping on the couch when Heechul and Victoria came back. Heechul handed the keys off to the girl again after he took off his shoes and stepped into the living room. He could hear the boys off somewhere else in the house, laughing together, and Sulli had attached herself to Victoria moments ago.
When Heechul sat down, it was on the floor, his shoulders near to Hankyung's head. The TV remote rested a few inches from Heechul's feet. He considered reaching for it, but didn't. Instead, he sighed and leaned his head back to rest on the couch, and he felt his scalp brush against Hankyung's forearm. Warm.
He didn't even notice that he'd drifted off to sleep until he opened his eyes again, and Hankyung's hands were holding his head, gingerly. Heechul gave him a weird look.
"You were falling over," he said.
"Oh, thanks," Heechul mumbled, feeling the immediate after affects of a nap. Glancing at the clock on the cable box told him he'd been asleep for an hour. How'd he even miss that?
Hankyung sat up straight, all the while letting this ridiculous grin spread over his face. And Heechul wondered why the hell it was there.
"What's with the smile?"
This time, Hankyung tried to cover it up with his hand, but it was only getting bigger. "Do you have some kind of thing for sleeping next to me?"
"Why the hell would you think that?"
"Because so far you've been there every time I open my eyes."
Heechul scoffed. "Just so you know, that was really corny."
"Well, it's true."
"So corny, I feel physically uncomfortable right now."
Hankyung poked his cheek. "You're cute."
"You're making it worse," Heechul grimaced, swatting the hand away. "So, are you not mad about what happened earlier?"
The expression on Hankyung's face dulled down a little, softened. "You mean about Kyuhyun?"
"Basically."
Hankyung's hand was on his shoulder now. "It's better…for me to not get too worked up about it. I could go on forever. It's crazy what happened to those kids, Heechul, and just the idea of being accused of being the person who did it…I just lost it."
"And then I asked for your car keys."
"That was a dumb move, Heechul," Hankyung chuckled.
"At least I still have my wrist."
"Sorry about that."
Heechul deadpanned. "I would've sued you for assault."
"That doesn't surprise me."
"I'm not even kidding."
"I never said you were," Hankyung laughed again. "So we're okay now?"
"As long as neither of us screws up or pisses each other off."
Still smiling, Hankyung patted Heechul's shoulder one more time before hopping off the couch. "I told you we would drive each other crazy."
-
At dinner, Victoria's father still wasn't home. He'd called her, said that he was being shipped to Shanghai for a business convention in the morning that could land him a monstrous promotion. Victoria kept talking about it at the table, saying he'd probably slip in to pack some things in the middle of the night, so don't mind him.
"Did you have fun shopping, unnie?" Sulli asked as Hankyung put another dumpling on her plate.
"Yeah, we did, right?" she looked to Heechul.
Heechul gave the thumbs up and felt stupid, but he was in the middle of chewing. He reminded himself never to do that again, make sure his mouth was empty when someone asked him for a confirmation.
"He's really good at shopping," Victoria added. "Fast, and everything he picked was perfect."
"Well, then we know who to go to when we start getting sick of the same clothes," Hankyung said, then grinning around his chopsticks. Man, he was fond of smiling at Heechul.
Heechul felt that same thing as he did earlier, the one he got from Hankyung's corniness, and he put his eyes back to his water glass and away from the person next to him. Thirsty. Water, drink it. Stop staring at each other.
A small sound of vibrations interrupted his actions for only a brief second, as Hankyung slipped his phone out of his pocket. Heechul glanced at the screen of the device before Hankyung twitched and let it ring, sitting in his lap now.
"Ge, is something wrong?" asked Victoria.
Hankyung lifted his head up again. "Um, yeah, don't worry. Nothing's wrong."
"Who's Lee Yoonhwa?" Heechul wondered, reading the phone's flashing screen somewhat out loud, as he reached for his glass again. At least, it was loud enough for the boy sitting across the way.
Donghae's fork tumbled out of his hand and clattered against the floor seconds later as he jumped out of his chair and stared at Heechul, eyes wild. All the other kids seemed stunned enough to stop eating, and Victoria stopped with them out of confusion.
"Donghae?" Heechul's eyes flickered to Hankyung, who was slowly getting out of his chair. "Donghae, What's with you?"
The boy said nothing.
Hankyung manuvered around the table. "Donghae-"
"Don't say that name, hyung!" he suddenly yelled, eyes on Heechul. "Don't!"
The teen was pulled into Hankyung's arms, shaking.
"Hyung, why?" he held onto the elder of the two. "Hyung, why?"
Hankyung took a deep breath. "She's been calling me, Donghae."
"No! No, why is she calling you?" Donghae gripped at his hyung's sleeves. "You didn't answer did you? You didn't talk to her, did you?"
"Shh," Hankyung pulled him closer again, his patting the back of Donghae's head, smoothing his hair. He looked at Victoria. "Qian, can you take Sulli upstairs? Henry, Kyuhyun, I need to talk to Donghae alone, and Heechul-"
"Don't worry, I'm out of here," he replied, though not easily and probably the furthest thing from happily. Heechul didn't just leave the room, though, and Hankyung winced when the door slammed. He held Donghae closer.
Outside, Heechul decided not to just stop at the front door and sit there and mope that he'd considered at first. His need to move around struck him, and so did the need for nicotine. Patting the thin wallet he still had in his pocket, he remembered there was a gas station somewhere around here.
--
Donghae in this chapter :'( well, this is better than what's coming for him, at least. and damn do i need to get moving with posting the next chapter!
Fandom/Pairing: Super Junior, f(x) ; Heechul/Hankyung
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Heechul's gotten himself into something tangled, he just knows it. Life away from former expectations was supposed to be easier, but so far things are still just complicated.
Note: it was fricken LABOR DAY when i posted this chapter, that's more than a month ago! x_x
Word count: 3212
Chapter 4;
Wrong Way
-
It had been four hours, and Sulli was already fastened to Victoria, by the hip practically. Probably had something to do with the fact that they were both girls, and Sulli had been surrounded by men (and boys) up until this point. Heechul ruled out Krystal-he didn't know anything about the other little girl, so he'd keep her out of the equation until he knew more.
Basically, so much for Sulli not taking to strangers. And both Hankyung and Victoria-and the kids-had confirmed that she'd never met said children before. Well, they weren't so much children when she was just a year younger than Donghae. Yet they would both claim the age of sixteen until Donghae's birthday, as the boy had made a point to say earlier.
In another realm of thought, Heechul couldn't explain a sudden need for nicotine. Yes, cigarettes. He hasn't had cravings since almost two Februaries ago, when he was eighteen. It felt weird, having this craving now. He'd quiet, he'd quit when he stopped being friends with that Kim Jongwoon in high school, when they'd gone their separate ways. Oh, and also when his parents caught him trying to hide a pack in his desk. That'd been an interesting month afterward.
Heechul supposed he could have kept smoking in secret again, to piss off his parents, but the want to do so died down only ten minutes after the thought-when he'd been in his sister's car to drive down to the closest gas station.
Towards the end of his thought train, Victoria came into the kitchen with a few plates stacked in her hands. "Sulli's officially the cutest little girl I've ever been around," she said.
"Yeah," Heechul mused, still with one foot in memories of old smokes and angry parents, and a noona. "She's adorable."
"You okay, oppa?"
Heechul grunted. "Fine, why?"
"Just asking is all. You're a guest, I like to take care of my guests," she shrugged, taking out a sponge. She started up on the dirty dishes she'd just brought in, and Heechul guessed that she'd been feeding Sulli and Henry-at least one other person besides Sulli, judging by the number of plates.
"You're very considerate," he stated.
Victoria flicked some water at him, inciting a yelp. She giggled and tried to hide her smile with her hair.
"Your considerate behavior just vanished."
"That was my goal."
Heechul scrunched his eyebrows together. "Well isn't that weird."
She giggled again.
"But anyway," Heechul said, now sitting on the kitchen counter. "I like your style. You know, I'll probably run out of clean clothes soon. You should take me around shopping."
Victoria shut off the faucet. "It sounds like you're asking me on a date, I'm only sixteen, in case you forgot."
Heechul gave a single laugh, loud and punctuating. Enough to startle Victoria. "Trust me, I'm not into you that way."
She picked up the dishtowel hanging off the handle of the bottom cupboard to wipe her hands with. "Okay. Do you want to go now?"
"Now?"
"Yeah, it's within walking distance-or at least, it's about a half-hour walking," she paused and analyzed Heechul's pursed lips, displeased face. "Or we could take my bike?"
The expression on Heechul's face remained the same. He wasn't having it. "Let's ask Hankyung for his car," he suggested, and without waiting for her to reply, he hopped off his seat and headed off to find Hankyung.
Victoria spun around, hand outstretched. "Oppa-" But he'd already gone ahead.
He was standing in the bathroom, door only cracked, with Kyuhyun next to him and a few boxes of bandages on the counter when Heechul found him. Heechul knocked on the doorframe and pushed it open a bit more, and Hankyung appeared to have almost jumped right out of his skin. It's true that Heechul noticed the wounds on Kyuhyun's back now that what was beyond the orange band-aid from before was exposed, but it's also true that he didn't think before knocking about how either the fifteen-year-old or Hankyung would feel about him seeing the red streaks and shallow gashes. Kyuhyun's face went white, and Hankyung's jaw dropped.
"Kyu, wait for a second," Hankyung pulled a towel-as white as Kyuhyun's expression-and draped it over him. Heechul was ready to stumble out of the doorway and back into the kitchen, but Hankyung had already grabbed his wrist and tugged him towards the stairs.
Heechul was about to trip on the first step, but Hankyung made sure to keep him stable. They stayed standing. "Hankyung, I-"
"What do you want?" Hankyung asked, like a parent being bothered by an incessant middle child.
"Whoa, calm down," Heechul held up the one hand of his that wasn't being held hostage, in use of his defense. "I just needed to ask to borrow something."
Hankyung pinched the bridge of his own nose and shut his eyes. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I just, I overreacted."
"I'll say-"
"I just wasn't expecting you to see that."
Heechul still didn't have his other hand back. Hankyung's hand was locked around the wrist. It was almost too tight, but Heechul kind of liked how Hankyung's hand felt. "You didn't…?"
"Do that to him?" Hankyung's eyes went wider than they had a few seconds ago. "Do that to Kyuhyun?"
"Sorry I asked," Heechul attempted to get the freedom of his hand back. "Can't blame me for asking, since you pulled him out of that house, you know?
"I could never do that to him-it's because this happened to him that I had to get him out, do you understand me?" Hankyung's grip didn't tighten, but for a second, Heechul was worried that it would. "Heechul, I know we haven't known each other for long, but you can't expect me to do something like that to a teenager! Heechul-"
"I said I was sorry I asked, Hankyung, for fuck's sake!" Heechul broke free, throwing his hands into the air. "Just accept my apology and give me your car keys so Victoria can take me shopping, dammit!"
Hankyung's face went blank. "Are you serious?"
"Um, yeah."
He sighed, lips forming into a straight line. "Not right now, Heechul-I don't…I don't know."
"Oppa," Victoria's voice suddenly calls out to them, and between the two of them, it was easy to figure out she meant Heechul. For some reason, Heechul didn't know why, she called Hankyung 'ge'. And also 'Han Geng', but he would look more into this another time. "Oppa, let's go."
Heechul dropped the car thing and left Hankyung's side. Victoria obviously had some kind of bad tension sense, it must've been why she intervened in the first place. He followed her to the front door, where she handed him a jingling set of keys.
"My dad's," she said. "He took the bus to work today."
"Why didn't you tell me before?" Heechul asked through a half-bewildered expression.
"You weren't listening to me."
Heechul drove, of course. Victoria was too young to, although she said that her dad promised to give her early lessons once he had more time off from work. Apparently her dad was preparing himself for the necessity of leaving the car for her to use while he was out, and therefore he'd taken the bus today. And he's done that three days this week, so far. Heechul nodded and kept at least one hand on the wheel the whole time, still thinking about the drama unfolding back at the house. The stuff he'd caused, in a way. Part of him wanted to talk to Kyuhyun, but the majority just wanted to talk to Hankyung. Yet he was talking with Victoria now.
He supposed that made sense and didn't make sense all at the same time. After all, he'd been the one to suggest shopping together in the first place. So of course, they went shopping together. Victoria was considerate as he'd described her, and Heechul was eager for a chance to exercise his fashionable mind again since he'd left. Sure, it hadn't been that long ago, but for Heechul, it felt like ages.
"Dammit, Heechul, why do you always have to look so good in anything I dress you in?" Heejin covered her mouth when she laughed. She seemed ready to pick up the camera the moment Heechul came out from behind the curtain. "Look at yourself for a second. Tell me noona didn't pick something you'd like."
Heechul strode over to the mirror his sister had set up for the shoot, just for him. Floor length and vertical and showing off just how great Heechul could make any outfit seem. Then again, Heejin had a knack for slapping clothes on her baby brother and having it always work for him.
"Oh, I do look good," he mused, flicking a few stray hairs to the side.
"You always do," she patted his shoulder. "Okay, come on, let's do this. You have to get me into my top school, baby."
"You don't need me to do that," Heechul scoffed, standing just where she wanted him to. He posed just right, and she loved him for that, among other reasons.
"But I do," she focused her lens, and then took the first shot. "I always need you, Heechul."
Heechul took on another pose. He wanted to say the same to her, but nothing came out. When she instructed him to tilt his head downwards slightly, he did-
"Oppa. Oppa!"
Heechul's mind came back, remembering the destination he'd planned with Victoria. Victoria. "What?"
"You missed the last turn, it was a left."
"Sorry, kid," he said. "No big deal. I'll just turn around."
She ignored the fact that he decided to pull an illegal move with a fancy u-turn with below average execution. Not-so-fancy, really. It only took a few minutes longer to get to the mall than Victoria had thought it would. Heechul hadn't even been speeding. Or if he had, she never noticed it, he could've been good at concealing it within changing the radio a plethora of times and tapping his fingers on the wheel. She hoped he wasn't this antsy all the time.
It turned out that the first place in the mall she took him to was perfect, he wandered around the store without her help-she assumed he wouldn't really need help, anyway. He didn't really seem like the type to need it. Heechul moved about the place like he'd been there thousands of times before, and somehow he had enough money to pay for the things he wanted, within reason, and paid for a few of Victoria's things as well.
When she asked him how he could manage to pull all this money out of nowhere, he shrugged and told her how he'd won the lottery not too long ago. It was an obvious lie, and Victoria laughed, covering her mouth at the same time.
Heechul wore this new pair of sunglasses he'd bought. It wasn't particularly sunny out that day, but it wasn't necessarily gray either. So it was probably safe to assume that he just felt like wearing them. "They make you feel cool," he said as an explanation. "Not that I absolutely need them, I just like them. Here, wear them for sec."
He handed them over, eyes still planted on the road, one hand still on the wheel. He turned on the CD player when he brought his other hand back to steer, but cringed when he heard the music.
"Sorry, it's my dad's," Victoria explained.
"It's fucking classical," Heechul wrinkled his nose.
"You don't like it?"
"Not at the moment," he said. "Some days, I appreciate. Today is not one of those days."
"Okay," she shrugged and opened the glove compartment. "I think I have one of mine in here. What do you think about Jay Chou?"
"Sure, anything."
"Han Geng-ge's a fan," she said as she pressed the 'load' button and waited for the little screen to tell her to insert the disc.
"Why do you call him that?"
"Han Geng-ge?"
"Yeah, that. His name's Hankyung..."
Victoria giggled. "That's his Korean name, oppa. It's what his teachers and classmates called him when we came to this country. His Chinese name is Han Geng."
"Oh."
"And 'ge' is like 'oppa' for us. Well, it's basically what you call anyone older than you in China. I'd call you that, but-"
"Would you?"
"Heechul-ge?" she was still wearing his sunglasses, and they looked a little big on her face.
"Yeah," he glanced at her. "I don't see why not."
"It sounds funny," she folded her arms over her chest. "Hm, what about Xiche-ge?"
"Xiche?"
"I think that'd be your Chinese name. We should ask Han Geng-ge, he's good at figuring these kinds of things out," she noted. "I never got a Korean name, though. They just call me Victoria."
"Oh," he was almost tempted to ask her if he could give her a Korean name, but he figured that would be strange of him. Then again, he's always been strange, he had to admit.
"Xiche has a nice ring to it," she said, handing his sunglasses back.
Heechul nodded. "Yeah, it does. Thanks, Vicky," he fitted the glasses back over his eyes. "By the way, I'm calling you that from now on."
-
Hankyung was fast asleep, napping on the couch when Heechul and Victoria came back. Heechul handed the keys off to the girl again after he took off his shoes and stepped into the living room. He could hear the boys off somewhere else in the house, laughing together, and Sulli had attached herself to Victoria moments ago.
When Heechul sat down, it was on the floor, his shoulders near to Hankyung's head. The TV remote rested a few inches from Heechul's feet. He considered reaching for it, but didn't. Instead, he sighed and leaned his head back to rest on the couch, and he felt his scalp brush against Hankyung's forearm. Warm.
He didn't even notice that he'd drifted off to sleep until he opened his eyes again, and Hankyung's hands were holding his head, gingerly. Heechul gave him a weird look.
"You were falling over," he said.
"Oh, thanks," Heechul mumbled, feeling the immediate after affects of a nap. Glancing at the clock on the cable box told him he'd been asleep for an hour. How'd he even miss that?
Hankyung sat up straight, all the while letting this ridiculous grin spread over his face. And Heechul wondered why the hell it was there.
"What's with the smile?"
This time, Hankyung tried to cover it up with his hand, but it was only getting bigger. "Do you have some kind of thing for sleeping next to me?"
"Why the hell would you think that?"
"Because so far you've been there every time I open my eyes."
Heechul scoffed. "Just so you know, that was really corny."
"Well, it's true."
"So corny, I feel physically uncomfortable right now."
Hankyung poked his cheek. "You're cute."
"You're making it worse," Heechul grimaced, swatting the hand away. "So, are you not mad about what happened earlier?"
The expression on Hankyung's face dulled down a little, softened. "You mean about Kyuhyun?"
"Basically."
Hankyung's hand was on his shoulder now. "It's better…for me to not get too worked up about it. I could go on forever. It's crazy what happened to those kids, Heechul, and just the idea of being accused of being the person who did it…I just lost it."
"And then I asked for your car keys."
"That was a dumb move, Heechul," Hankyung chuckled.
"At least I still have my wrist."
"Sorry about that."
Heechul deadpanned. "I would've sued you for assault."
"That doesn't surprise me."
"I'm not even kidding."
"I never said you were," Hankyung laughed again. "So we're okay now?"
"As long as neither of us screws up or pisses each other off."
Still smiling, Hankyung patted Heechul's shoulder one more time before hopping off the couch. "I told you we would drive each other crazy."
-
At dinner, Victoria's father still wasn't home. He'd called her, said that he was being shipped to Shanghai for a business convention in the morning that could land him a monstrous promotion. Victoria kept talking about it at the table, saying he'd probably slip in to pack some things in the middle of the night, so don't mind him.
"Did you have fun shopping, unnie?" Sulli asked as Hankyung put another dumpling on her plate.
"Yeah, we did, right?" she looked to Heechul.
Heechul gave the thumbs up and felt stupid, but he was in the middle of chewing. He reminded himself never to do that again, make sure his mouth was empty when someone asked him for a confirmation.
"He's really good at shopping," Victoria added. "Fast, and everything he picked was perfect."
"Well, then we know who to go to when we start getting sick of the same clothes," Hankyung said, then grinning around his chopsticks. Man, he was fond of smiling at Heechul.
Heechul felt that same thing as he did earlier, the one he got from Hankyung's corniness, and he put his eyes back to his water glass and away from the person next to him. Thirsty. Water, drink it. Stop staring at each other.
A small sound of vibrations interrupted his actions for only a brief second, as Hankyung slipped his phone out of his pocket. Heechul glanced at the screen of the device before Hankyung twitched and let it ring, sitting in his lap now.
"Ge, is something wrong?" asked Victoria.
Hankyung lifted his head up again. "Um, yeah, don't worry. Nothing's wrong."
"Who's Lee Yoonhwa?" Heechul wondered, reading the phone's flashing screen somewhat out loud, as he reached for his glass again. At least, it was loud enough for the boy sitting across the way.
Donghae's fork tumbled out of his hand and clattered against the floor seconds later as he jumped out of his chair and stared at Heechul, eyes wild. All the other kids seemed stunned enough to stop eating, and Victoria stopped with them out of confusion.
"Donghae?" Heechul's eyes flickered to Hankyung, who was slowly getting out of his chair. "Donghae, What's with you?"
The boy said nothing.
Hankyung manuvered around the table. "Donghae-"
"Don't say that name, hyung!" he suddenly yelled, eyes on Heechul. "Don't!"
The teen was pulled into Hankyung's arms, shaking.
"Hyung, why?" he held onto the elder of the two. "Hyung, why?"
Hankyung took a deep breath. "She's been calling me, Donghae."
"No! No, why is she calling you?" Donghae gripped at his hyung's sleeves. "You didn't answer did you? You didn't talk to her, did you?"
"Shh," Hankyung pulled him closer again, his patting the back of Donghae's head, smoothing his hair. He looked at Victoria. "Qian, can you take Sulli upstairs? Henry, Kyuhyun, I need to talk to Donghae alone, and Heechul-"
"Don't worry, I'm out of here," he replied, though not easily and probably the furthest thing from happily. Heechul didn't just leave the room, though, and Hankyung winced when the door slammed. He held Donghae closer.
Outside, Heechul decided not to just stop at the front door and sit there and mope that he'd considered at first. His need to move around struck him, and so did the need for nicotine. Patting the thin wallet he still had in his pocket, he remembered there was a gas station somewhere around here.
--
Donghae in this chapter :'( well, this is better than what's coming for him, at least. and damn do i need to get moving with posting the next chapter!