Stone Cold Perfection (Epilogue)

[lizziepro]

Title: Stone Cold Perfection
Pairing: Wonkyu
Rating: PG-13 (angst, swearing, mild violence~)
Genre: College!AU, angst, sci-fi, art~
Summary: Kyuhyun is finishing his final project before he can graduate art school. He has to create an extremely detailed sculpture from marble. What he doesn't know is that his work will result in something special.

a/n: i know some shit isn't accurate but it's how it fit into the story. i know when shisus' actual b-day is. i promise~~ ^^;;
ALSO, ALL OF THE WONKYU IS DEDICATED TO ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS SHANNON~ ^^ because the scenario started after a conversation in her kitchen and she keeps pushing me to write this, and so here's the results. ^-^ also she writes some pretty good stuff so yeah. :]

Name: Choi Siwon.

Birthday: May 15th.

Hometown: Seoul, South Korea.

Relationship Status: In love with an artist.

I don't quite know how it happened.

I couldn't tell you really when I first felt alive.

I just know I remember hearing a voice.

A beautiful voice.

Most often it sang loudly, screaming various lyrics and phrases,

but other times the voice would sing softly, as if it wasn't meant for anyone else to hear but me.

Those were my favorite times.

When I gained my sight, I was breathless.

He was so handsome, this man who was etching me out of stone.

His features, so close to me, I admired their distinctness and nobility.

He had various holes it seemed on his lower jaw, which I learnt later to be something called "acne scars".

His eyes were dark as coal, but they weren't menacing. They had a luster to them, quite telling of their earnest nature.

The concentration in his furrowed brow.

The mole below his right eye.

His big, toothy grin.

His chocolate hair that fell ever so slightly into his eyes when he would work.

Every day, for hours on end, I took in the complexity of his face, but this was not to be the highlight of this man.

Not by a longshot.

The true beauty in this man lies in his hands.

These hands which worked so diligently to free me from this cold stone prison.

His long fingers, so cut and bruised from mishaps with his tools.

The strength in each hand, but there remained an elegance with which they worked.

Nothing was a struggle for his hands.

It was all in his mind.

There are not nearly enough words to describe the anguish I felt having no choice but to observe the constant pain and suffering which he went through in creating me.

Not nearly.

His blood, sweat, and tears, all were exposed to me, and I couldn't help him.

I don't really know if I could've moved at that point.

I think I might have been able to, but it wasn't right.

How would it look if a half-made marble figure began walking toward you and gave you a hug, telling you not to cry over him?

It would look fucking insane, and Kyuhyun didn't need that from me.

So I remained silent.

Just watching, my heart breaking more and more with each tear that escaped his eyes.

His pain was my pain, and there was none greater than the night he gave me my freckle.

I will admit, I was afraid.

He raised a chair to kill me, but if it weren't for that blonde man in the leopard print pants, I would be dead and Kyuhyun might've been too.

I'll never be able to thank that odd man enough.

Especially not with that jawline.

It rivals mine for pete's sake.

But for all of the pain and anguish I experienced with Kyuhyun, there was that much more relief and happiness after that night.

He had let in another person into the studio a little later, while he was working on my back.

This man obviously knew him well too, playfully looking around not only at him but at myself as well.

This man, whose name I found out was Choi Minho, is still important to Kyuhyun today.

We attended one of his soccer games last week and he scored a hat trick.

What a rush!

Anyway, as I was saying, I remained silent.

I didn't move an inch, and Kyuhyun continued to work on me.

The day he said I was finished, I contemplated breaking my rigidity and letting him know I was there, but it was not the right time.

It wasn't just that I was made of stone and would begin walking, it was also that I was hidden beneath the stone.

As Kyuhyun worked, I felt things develop inside of me, apparently these are called organs.

And skin, and hair, and muscles...

To this day, I have no idea what actually took place or how this transformation began, but I was becoming human, inside this stone covering.

If there is a God, I think he created me for Kyuhyun.

He didn't want him to be alone and somehow I would travel into his dreams.

I would see him sitting in pain and I would tell him that I would always love him, if for nothing else than to provide a continuous inspiration for him to work.

But there came a time when I could no longer enter his dreams.

I was confined to this stone covered body that was forming.

And it was torturous.

I wanted nothing more than to embrace Kyuhyun, show him how much I truly loved him, even though he didn't know I existed as I did.

Of course, he would talk to me, hold conversations in his mind with me, and I think they made him feel better about things.

Actually, I know they made him feel better.

He's told me so himself.

The first time I didn't feel the need to comfort Kyuhyun was at the Gala event during his senior year of college.

I was brought there in a moving van with other various pieces of artwork.

Everything was packed in just right so nothing broke.

But of course things did break and students were furious and............. well that doesn't really matter at the moment.

Eventually, I was placed upon a pedestal with a white board next to me with some information on it.

I didn't know what it said, but I was elated when Kyuhyun finally came to the Gala.

He seemed to be happy to see me again as well, his eyes lighting up more than I'd seen before and a smile working its way across his face.

When it was announced that he had won, everyone was moved by his speech.

If I could have cried, I would have wept uncontrollably because Kyuhuyn had finally come to see what the most important things were in life and how his experiences led up to them and his understanding in this moment.

I will have you know he did not prepare any of that speech beforehand.

He went up and ad-libbed it.

And that was why it was beautiful.

It came from his heart.

I was transported back to the studio that night with Kyuhyun as I was now his sole responsibility and would be for the rest of our lives.

The studio was dimmed, except for the moonlight rushing in from a broken window and a spotlight lamp at the table he was sitting at.

He smiled.

But it wasn't one of his big smiles.

It was the one where he knew everything was going to change for the better.

Like he understood even moreso that he himself would be okay, even if he and his friends didn't see each other all the time and some had more or less successes than him.

But it was that smile that led to the tears that started to fall on the page.

I was personally confused at how one could smile and cry at the same time, but I figured I would learn in due time.

As soon as I broke out of this damn stone shell...

He began writing in his journal I'd seen him constantly writing in since my creation.

I couldn't bear it any longer though.

For him to be sad, for him to cry, for him to feel pain, and to go through it alone.

He had his friends, yes, but right now, in this moment, he was alone...

or so he thought.

It wasn't the most graceful emersion, I will say that right now.

But the stone fell from me with ease, disintegrating easily into dust at the foot of the pedestal on which I was standing.

Though just as easily as the stone fell, so to did I.

I'd never used my legs before! Give me a break!

It took a couple seconds for me to get my footing and understand how to walk, but eventually I made it over to Kyuhyun without a sound.

Not that this was particularly how I wanted to approach him.

I had always it pictured more romantically.

Like I would run up to him in a moment of absolute elation, and we would embrace, and the angels would sing, and the heavens would open up with sunshine upon us.............

But here I was, sneaking over to him, nude, in a cold, damp, dark art studio, with only the sound of crickets chirping outside and Kyuhyun sniffling every now and then because of his uncontrollable emotions.

This is what I later learned happens to him when he is "drunk", so to speak.

As I got closer, I heard him whispering and realized he was reading a journal entry aloud as he was writing it.

My drew closer to his shoulder, barely resting my chin on his suit jacket, and reading silently along with him, until we reached the last line...

that line that meant so much to him.

I let the words flow from my mouth.

My first words.

"Remember, I love you..."

I heard him let out a long sigh and relax his shoulders a bit.

It was nice to finally see him at peace.

I decided I should try to help.

When that Minho guy was visiting Kyuhyun a couple weeks back, he put his hands on Kyuhyun's shoulders and began to rub them a bit, and Kyuhyun seemed to relax.

I thought this would be the best thing I could do to help.

And then it hit me.

This would be the first time I'd touched him.

Let alone any human being.

I looked down at my hands, slowly raising them up to meet his shoulders.

He had given me such beautiful hands, but none could compare to his, which now cupped his face, shielding it from the spotlight.

I placed my hands lightly on his shoulders and began to repeat the motions I had watched a few weeks back.

Immediately, Kyuhyun let out another sigh and pushed into my hands.

I figured this meant I was doing a good job, and so to help him relax more, I tried talking to him, like the blonde man had done.

"Relax, Kyuhyunnie. You've worked so hard. I'm happy to be here with you. I can't imagine being anywhere else. You are everything to me. I don't need anything else. You say you owe me everything, but it's me who owes you everything. You made me. It's nice to see you smile. Your smile is perfect. I hope you keep smiling. I'll do whatever I can to keep you smiling and happy because you deserve it. You absolutely deserve to be happy. I just want to tell you one thing though. One thing to always keep in mind....

Remember, I love you."

Kyuhyun exhaled deeply, but before I could lean down to continue the conversation, Kyuhyun jumped up out of his seat and stood facing the window in front of him.

His back was stiff as a board.

So much for my hard work helping him relax.

He slowly turned around, peeking meekly over his shoulder.

He caught sight of me and I smiled at him, raising a hand to wave, but only my thumb and first two fingers straightened out to wave.

I'd have to work on that later.

What mattered now was the shrill scream Kyuhyun emitted before jumping across the table and ducking beneath it, only his eyes and chocolate brown hair flittering over the edge to look at me.

The silence was deafening.

"Hello, Kyuhyunnie."

Another squeak.

This time he sank down to his bottom, sitting on the floor, crosslegged and facing the window.

I heard him muttering,

"He's not real. You're drunk. This is bullshit. What? How? WAE?! Choi Siwon is your statue. He is NOT in human form right behind you. This is a dream. You're hallucinating. How can he be real?!?"

I laughed slightly to myself.

Not that I had the answers to those questions, but I wanted to talk to him nonetheless.

"Kyuhyunnie. Look at me. I'm not going to hurt you. Can you talk to me," I pleaded softly with him, remaining standing at my distance from where he hid behind the table.

Slowly, he emerged from his hiding place and stood facing me.

Sheer terror in his eyes.

This is definitely not how I expected things to go.

"Kyuhyunnie, I-"

I was cut off by a towel being thrown at me.

"You're the one who made me. I don't see-"

"I know I know. Can you just do this for my sanity's sake right now?"

"Of course."

I wrapped the towel around my lower half and moved slightly forward.

Kyuhyun didn't move an inch.

He looked at me, obviously trying to figure out what was happening.

"So... You're alive?"

"Looks like it."

"But how?"

"I don't have any clue, Kyuhyunnie."

"I carved you... out of that stone."

"Yes."

"And you weren't made of skin or anything when I carved you."

"No. I wasn't."

"So how're you made of skin now?"

"I haven't the slightest idea, Kyuhyunnie."

"Do you have organs and all that shit? Like, are you functional? Like a human? Or are you just skin and.........well, stone?"

"I'm almost positive I have organs. If you look closely, I have a small cut on my foot from a piece of stone I stepped on earlier. That must've caused the red liquid to escape my body. Does this mean I'm going to die?"

"You know what death is?"

"Vaguely?"

"How?"

"I don't know that either."

"You don't know jack shit do you?"

"No? What is this 'jack shit', Kyuhyunnie?"

"What? Nevermind. Basically, no, you're not going to die. It'll take a lot more for you to die than that."

"That's good."

The silence crept back in.

Neither of us knew what to say next, or at least I didn't. All I wanted to do was hug him... I wanted to let him know I would be here for him forever, but he obviously hadn't warmed up to that idea yet.

"So wait. How long have you been able to like hear and see and shit?"

"For a little while."

"But you couldn't move?"

"No."

"Why?"

"The stone was too much. I wanted to move and let you know I was here, but I couldn't. Or at least I thought I couldn't."

"And what's so special about now that allows you to move?"

"I have no clue, Kyuhyunnie."

"Great."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"Is it yours then?"

"WHAT?! HOW IS THIS MY FAULT YOU'RE ALIVE?!? YOU SHOULDN'T BE ALIVE IN THE FIRST PLACE, BUT I DON'T HAVE CONTROL OVER THAT. WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"But don't you want me alive, Kyuhyunnie?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but the question obviously struck a nerve.

After countless hours of him talking to me, telling me how he wishes I was real, how much he loves me, it was impossible for him to deny.

I didn't want to pull that card, but it was the only way to shut him up.

He looked to the right and shook his head.

He barely looked up at me.

"Of course I want you to be alive, Siwon. You're the only thing that makes me happy. You know this. Why would you ask something like that?"

"Did you not hear what you just said to me 30 seconds ago? How could I not ask that?"

Kyuhyun rested against his hands which white knuckled the edge of the table.

He hung his head in shame more than anything.

What he had wanted to come true had finally happened, and he was ruining it.

He said something he hadn't said in a long time.

"I'm sorry."

He didn't even meet my eyes.

I decided that I would stay here for now, but that later I would try to get closer again.

This was more difficult than I had anticipated.

"It's fine, Kyuhyunnie. Don't worry about it. I know you didn't mean it."

"No. It's not okay. I can't keep treating people like this. But.........how?"

"I. Don't. Know."

He took a minute before saying anything else.

I was worried.

"Can you stay here for tonight? There's some blankets and things I brought for when I would crash here," he said with an exasperated look on his face, wiping the sleep from his eyes, or at least trying to.

"Of course. I'll do whatever you want. It's not like I really have anywhere else to go."

"Thanks. I'll be back in the morning. I just need to sort out my head and get my shit together."

"That's fine."

"Alright," he said heading for the doorway, "goodnight Siwon."

"Goodnight Kyuhyunnie. Sleep well."

He left with a grumble.

I didn't sleep well at all that night, though honestly, it was the first experience with real sleep I had had.

Around 11am the next morning, I heard the door unlock and in walked Kyuhyun.

He looked exhausted.

He had a bag of clothing with him and presumably some food.

"Good morning, Kyuhyunnie."

Another grumble.

"Good morning. Did you sleep okay?"

"Well enough. How are you feeling this morning?"

"Fine. Can you put these on? I brought food. Do you eat," he asked, opening the bag of food in front of him after tossing me the bag of clothing.

I opened the bag and saw a bright blue polo and some jeans.

This would do for now.

"Yes. I think so."

I changed into the clothing, Kyuhyun watching the entire time.

No matter how he tried to hide it, I knew he didn't hate me.

"Here. Eat this."

He handed me a bowl of rice with pork, vegetables, and kimchi on the side.

"Thank you," I said accepting the bowl.

We ate mostly in silence before I asked Kyuhyun a question.

"Kyuhyun, can we go for a walk?"

"What?"

"Can we go for a walk? Like outside?"

"Why would we do that?"

"Because I want to see what everything is like. Plus I need practice walking and you need some fresh air."

He smiled.

That beautiful smile I'd missed last night when we talked.

It had returned.

"Okay. Let's go."

We made a pit stop by Kyuhyun's apartment before heading out for the afternoon.

This was when I first met Changmin.

I entered the apartment and was met with a man putting on sunglasses and a hat, preparing to leave.

"Oh, Kyuhyunnie. Who's your friend," he asked, looking over me, "and why is he wearing your old clothes? I thought I told you to throw those away years ago?"

"Uhm. This is Choi Siwon," Kyuhyun replied.

"Oh, well.... nice to meet you. I'm Shim Changmin. How come I've never seen you here before? I know all of Kyuhyunnie's friends..."

"I- uhm-"

"He just got into town. I know him from an art forum online. He needs a place to stay, so I told him he could stay here and help me with rent since you're leaving soon," Kyuhyun interjected.

He saved me from embarrassment, that's for sure.

"Awesome. He looks so much like your sculpture... Did you model it after him?"

"Obviously."

"Sorry. I didn't know someone like that was real. I can't read your mind."

"You don't try hard enough."

"Fuck off."

"Anyway, where are you off to?"

"I have to go grab some of my portfolio material from the photography department dark room. I had some girls develop some photos for me in exchange for being their models."

His confidence was blinding, but something was off about it.

"Great. Just make sure they aren't nudes this time? You remember how you got in trouble for that last time."

"Whoops~"

"Just go."

"Alright. I'll see you both later then. Nice to meet you Siwon-sshi," he said with a slight bow.

"Nice to meet you too. Have a nice day," I replied, bowing as he did.

He left and Kyuhyun hurriedly dropped everything off.

We got to a park nearby and it was amazing. Everything was so lush and green and alive. The sun was warm and the air was clean. Nothing like that stuffy basement I had been in for 2 months. This was what I wanted.

We walked around the pathways and talked about various things, most of which was me asking Kyuhyun questions about things I saw around me. He seemed happy to answer though. I took this as a good sign.

We made our way to a bench, hidden behind some trees. We sat down and I took his hand. It made him relax a little.

"So, what.......what do we do now," he finally asked, looking up at me as he was slightly hunched over.

"Well, I'm here because you made me..."

"I know, but...do you want to be here?..............With me?"

"It's all I want, Kyuhyunnie."

"Is it? You don't want to leave?"

"Never."

"Really?"

"Well, I'd like to go see other places, but I want to see them with you."

"You're serious?"

"Just do one thing for me, Kyuhyunnie."

"What's that?"

"Remember, I love you..."

------------------------------------------------------------------

It's been 2 years since that day.

2 years since my life began its blissful course.

Of course, no one really knew where I had come from.

Kyuhyun and I kept that a secret.

I'm currently sitting in our apartment, that same apartment in which I had met his best friend and coincidentally moved into that night.

Kyuhyun now works at the university, teaching classes and sculpting in his spare time.

I, well, after learning to write, I've decided to write a novel.

No one knows where my inspiration comes from, but that's mine and Kyuhyun's little secret.

If there's anything I want everyone who reads my novel to know though, it's that....well....

you are loved.

Never, ever forget that you are loved and that you are important to someone.

That's the most important lesson in life.

You. Are. Loved.

fin.