It's (Not) Over, Say Goodbye
It's (Not) Over, Say Goodbye
Block B: Kyung/Zico
1600 words, rated PG-13
Summary: Park Kyung was never good at making friends, so why did he think the end of the world would change that?
"All I'm saying is he likes me the best," the boy said. He would be completely invisible if not for the glow of dashboard. It was too bad he wasn't almost mute, as well.
"He likes you better," Kyung spat out between twists of the screwdriver, "and better isn't the same as the best."
Kyung could see the other boy's lips twitch slightly. He turned back to his work and tried to ignore it all as best he could. His fingers hurried over keys and buttons, pushing and tapping in frenzies only appropriate for emergencies. A few wrong strokes could possibly send the world into a second ice age or blow up the moon, so when he the confirmation message appeared on his screen he panicked.
The boy beside him simply laughed, pushing Kyung out of the way to override the system. "This is why he likes me the best. I'm not in a hurry; I'm cool, calm, and collected."
Kyung watched the boy swirl his chair back to his side of the small workplace. He lazily typed something and propped his feet on the main desk. To say the least, Kyung was annoyed. And if they must work together, then he would have to set this in the right direction immediately if not for the sake of his sanity perhaps for the sake of the world.
"You are one step above shit on his shoes, so don't let it go to your head. We are here to work not play. And I, for one, just wanna get through this."
"Calm down, Kyung. It's just the end of the world."
It took Kyung exactly four years of advanced weaponry and aerodynamics in warfare at the academy to get this job. He spent twenty minutes in the office during the interview. An hour and forty-seven minutes of his life was redesigning the robotics for his engineering department. He was promoted to a top-secret military engineering crew about two minutes after the successful trial. He figured if he didn't have much time to spend, he should divide it out in equal increments and he documented every moment and detail. So the question Woo Jiho asked seemed like a no-brainer.
"Kyung, when did you decide you didn't want to work with me?"
Jiho was smiling. He knew very well that Kyung had little interest in chit-chat or heroism. He came to do a job and achieve something he had strived for his whole life. Jiho knew Kyung better than to ask something like that, but today, Kyung humored him.
"Exactly fifteen seconds after you said hello."
The smile Jiho wore so often finally fell. Perhaps, he didn't want an answer. Maybe the answer surprised him. Jiho turned around and delicately tapped the keyboard and flipped pages of the manual.
"It's nothing personal," Kyung said. The silence was thick, and his voice was barely his own with the beeping and buzzing accompanying it.
Jiho stood up and walked away. Kyung sat at his computer, alone. And that was when he thought maybe it should be personal.
Jiho had big plans, big dreams, and a bigger ego; Kyung had always lived in a small world.
They met on a usual day too distant and unimportant to recall. It had rained, and Kyung carried a wet umbrella down the empty corridors to Room B-968. It was less of a room, rather a space where the walls didn't meet. Kyung had been expected, greeted. The General had shook his hand, just as he thought he would. It was short, polite, and planned.
Jiho had rushed in about three minutes late. Kyung noticed the way the water droplets hung to his face, and the way a smile was pasted to his face in the same fashion his hair stuck to his head. He was tall, charming, and unnecessary.
"You ready to save the world with me?"
Kyung had walked off, blueprints and orders in hand. He was uncomfortable, and as he watched the General talk with Jiho about the new assignment, he felt unneeded. He traveled to his new home, an empty desk in a dark room, and pulled out his paperwork. After all, there wasn't time to waste.
"So, only fifteen seconds, huh?" Jiho asked as they sat together in the observation room. They were face to face, about an arms length away from touching.
"Excuse me."
Jiho stretched his arms out, bones popped as he twisted his wrists. "You said it took you fifteen seconds to hate me."
Kyung never quite knew what to say in ordinary circumstances. This was not an exception. He merely nodded as someone placed an odd metal object on his head.
"How long until you like me?"
Kyung watched as Jiho cocked his head, the helmet slid and almost covered his left eye. He looked like a boy playing pretend not a man on a mission. But as Jiho looked back at him, his lips stretched into the familiar smile, maybe Kyung thought wasn't so bad.
"How long do we have?"
Jiho's eyes widened, like he wasn't sure if the question was for him. He answered anyway. "We hafta be in this chamber for like, a while? You know, we gotta get used to syncing brain lengths or whatever."
Kyung grinned at his lack of knowledge in this field; Jiho was meant to be a leader not a thinker. "No, I mean, until the end."
Jiho shrugged. "Does it matter?"
Their second time in the chamber was more successful than their first. Jiho had ordered less; Kyung refused less. They focused on their goal more. But it still wasn't perfect.
If Kyung remembered correctly, they had plenty of time to practice but only one time to get it right. It was quickly approaching. Months had passed by with little progress. Jiho sat in silence while Kyung nervously talked about work. They weren't friends, had no common ground to stand on. But in that one moment, one sentence, Kyung began to understand.
They wouldn't be perfect, would never be close. They perhaps should never have been chosen to work together. But Kyung had the knowledge while Jiho had the courage. Evenly matched in their own way. They had to learn to trust that. Maybe there was time to.
There was a timer on his computer that served as a reminder. He had fourteen minutes to come alive.
The Great War had depleted much of the ozone. The sun shone too brightly, too warmly. Yet, they had managed to stay breathing. Kyung thought that maybe Jiho was the sun. He shone like the medals on the General's jacket, gold and honorable. Kyung maybe could be the moon then. Another face of existence, reflecting what it could to shed some light when the darkness came.
"Why did you wanna do this? I mean, it's suicidal, really," Kyung blurted out before they headed to their robot. They were to fix a planet for suitable living. The people of his world had time to live and wander about, be fascinated by living elsewhere. They had to go into the unknown, blindly surviving for as long as they could.
"I wanted to do something cool," Jiho started. Kyung scoffed, so Jiho continued, "I think I wanted to be remembered for something I did that wasn't shitty. People always remember the bad stuff."
Kyung nodded. They were a few steps away from the brig. It was now or never.
"So, why didn't you check out our new home the other day? Felt weird pressing buttons without you correcting me."
Kyung laughed, maybe the first time since this project began. It felt good. "Well, Jiho, I designed it. I already know everything."
"Well, that's just great. Now I'm gonna look like an idiot," Jiho muttered.
"You already do."
Jiho grinned, then he frowned a bit. "Before we, you know, lift off and boldly go and all that shit, why did you wanna do this? You probably should be here building the new world or something. If you can make this, why not let some high school dropout die in space?"
"I'm doing this for my father."
"Oh, yeah. I've never heard you talk about him before. It was always your mother this or your sister that. But never your father," Jiho slouched into his chair, buckling his seat belt for what may be the last time. "You don't get along or something?"
"I've talked about him before. Actually, he's the one who said I would be the perfect pilot for this. Especially since I designed it."
"I thought you said the Gen- "
Jiho's face was illuminated by the glow of the monitor. Kyung watched as his mind worked out the puzzle, why they weren't friends, why he had to be the one.
"Fuck, the General is your dad."
"Yep. So, if you're ready, let's boldly go and all that shit."
It got darker, colder. Kyung never worked well under those conditions.
"Jiho?"
"Yeah?"
"I just wanted to say goodbye, just in case. I didn't think I'd really have anyone to say goodbye to, but I think you should know that I'm sorry for everything. And I guess it was two weeks."
"What?" Jiho's confusion was the best thing Kyung had ever known. It was nice knowing of someone that didn't have everything figured out all the time.
"You asked how long until I would like you, remember? It was two weeks. After our second chamber assessment."
Jiho's hand found its way to Kyung, a light touch that seemed to burn and comfort at the same time. "Well, I'm not gonna say goodbye. I plan to see you when we get there. Or am I going alone?"
"Just push the fucking button."
Written for oberyns for the BLOCKisbang Summer 2014 Exchange. Many thanks to the Tooth Fairy for inspiration, frustration, and reminders. WE DID IT! I had never seen Pacific Rim, so I approached this huge idea with awkward grace and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Prompt: Pacific Rim!AU. Character A and Character B as co-pilots; where they are fighting this war for two completely different reasons, but in the end, find hope in each other when it seems that the day is lost.
Block B: Kyung/Zico
1600 words, rated PG-13
Summary: Park Kyung was never good at making friends, so why did he think the end of the world would change that?
"All I'm saying is he likes me the best," the boy said. He would be completely invisible if not for the glow of dashboard. It was too bad he wasn't almost mute, as well.
"He likes you better," Kyung spat out between twists of the screwdriver, "and better isn't the same as the best."
Kyung could see the other boy's lips twitch slightly. He turned back to his work and tried to ignore it all as best he could. His fingers hurried over keys and buttons, pushing and tapping in frenzies only appropriate for emergencies. A few wrong strokes could possibly send the world into a second ice age or blow up the moon, so when he the confirmation message appeared on his screen he panicked.
The boy beside him simply laughed, pushing Kyung out of the way to override the system. "This is why he likes me the best. I'm not in a hurry; I'm cool, calm, and collected."
Kyung watched the boy swirl his chair back to his side of the small workplace. He lazily typed something and propped his feet on the main desk. To say the least, Kyung was annoyed. And if they must work together, then he would have to set this in the right direction immediately if not for the sake of his sanity perhaps for the sake of the world.
"You are one step above shit on his shoes, so don't let it go to your head. We are here to work not play. And I, for one, just wanna get through this."
"Calm down, Kyung. It's just the end of the world."
It took Kyung exactly four years of advanced weaponry and aerodynamics in warfare at the academy to get this job. He spent twenty minutes in the office during the interview. An hour and forty-seven minutes of his life was redesigning the robotics for his engineering department. He was promoted to a top-secret military engineering crew about two minutes after the successful trial. He figured if he didn't have much time to spend, he should divide it out in equal increments and he documented every moment and detail. So the question Woo Jiho asked seemed like a no-brainer.
"Kyung, when did you decide you didn't want to work with me?"
Jiho was smiling. He knew very well that Kyung had little interest in chit-chat or heroism. He came to do a job and achieve something he had strived for his whole life. Jiho knew Kyung better than to ask something like that, but today, Kyung humored him.
"Exactly fifteen seconds after you said hello."
The smile Jiho wore so often finally fell. Perhaps, he didn't want an answer. Maybe the answer surprised him. Jiho turned around and delicately tapped the keyboard and flipped pages of the manual.
"It's nothing personal," Kyung said. The silence was thick, and his voice was barely his own with the beeping and buzzing accompanying it.
Jiho stood up and walked away. Kyung sat at his computer, alone. And that was when he thought maybe it should be personal.
Jiho had big plans, big dreams, and a bigger ego; Kyung had always lived in a small world.
They met on a usual day too distant and unimportant to recall. It had rained, and Kyung carried a wet umbrella down the empty corridors to Room B-968. It was less of a room, rather a space where the walls didn't meet. Kyung had been expected, greeted. The General had shook his hand, just as he thought he would. It was short, polite, and planned.
Jiho had rushed in about three minutes late. Kyung noticed the way the water droplets hung to his face, and the way a smile was pasted to his face in the same fashion his hair stuck to his head. He was tall, charming, and unnecessary.
"You ready to save the world with me?"
Kyung had walked off, blueprints and orders in hand. He was uncomfortable, and as he watched the General talk with Jiho about the new assignment, he felt unneeded. He traveled to his new home, an empty desk in a dark room, and pulled out his paperwork. After all, there wasn't time to waste.
"So, only fifteen seconds, huh?" Jiho asked as they sat together in the observation room. They were face to face, about an arms length away from touching.
"Excuse me."
Jiho stretched his arms out, bones popped as he twisted his wrists. "You said it took you fifteen seconds to hate me."
Kyung never quite knew what to say in ordinary circumstances. This was not an exception. He merely nodded as someone placed an odd metal object on his head.
"How long until you like me?"
Kyung watched as Jiho cocked his head, the helmet slid and almost covered his left eye. He looked like a boy playing pretend not a man on a mission. But as Jiho looked back at him, his lips stretched into the familiar smile, maybe Kyung thought wasn't so bad.
"How long do we have?"
Jiho's eyes widened, like he wasn't sure if the question was for him. He answered anyway. "We hafta be in this chamber for like, a while? You know, we gotta get used to syncing brain lengths or whatever."
Kyung grinned at his lack of knowledge in this field; Jiho was meant to be a leader not a thinker. "No, I mean, until the end."
Jiho shrugged. "Does it matter?"
Their second time in the chamber was more successful than their first. Jiho had ordered less; Kyung refused less. They focused on their goal more. But it still wasn't perfect.
If Kyung remembered correctly, they had plenty of time to practice but only one time to get it right. It was quickly approaching. Months had passed by with little progress. Jiho sat in silence while Kyung nervously talked about work. They weren't friends, had no common ground to stand on. But in that one moment, one sentence, Kyung began to understand.
They wouldn't be perfect, would never be close. They perhaps should never have been chosen to work together. But Kyung had the knowledge while Jiho had the courage. Evenly matched in their own way. They had to learn to trust that. Maybe there was time to.
There was a timer on his computer that served as a reminder. He had fourteen minutes to come alive.
The Great War had depleted much of the ozone. The sun shone too brightly, too warmly. Yet, they had managed to stay breathing. Kyung thought that maybe Jiho was the sun. He shone like the medals on the General's jacket, gold and honorable. Kyung maybe could be the moon then. Another face of existence, reflecting what it could to shed some light when the darkness came.
"Why did you wanna do this? I mean, it's suicidal, really," Kyung blurted out before they headed to their robot. They were to fix a planet for suitable living. The people of his world had time to live and wander about, be fascinated by living elsewhere. They had to go into the unknown, blindly surviving for as long as they could.
"I wanted to do something cool," Jiho started. Kyung scoffed, so Jiho continued, "I think I wanted to be remembered for something I did that wasn't shitty. People always remember the bad stuff."
Kyung nodded. They were a few steps away from the brig. It was now or never.
"So, why didn't you check out our new home the other day? Felt weird pressing buttons without you correcting me."
Kyung laughed, maybe the first time since this project began. It felt good. "Well, Jiho, I designed it. I already know everything."
"Well, that's just great. Now I'm gonna look like an idiot," Jiho muttered.
"You already do."
Jiho grinned, then he frowned a bit. "Before we, you know, lift off and boldly go and all that shit, why did you wanna do this? You probably should be here building the new world or something. If you can make this, why not let some high school dropout die in space?"
"I'm doing this for my father."
"Oh, yeah. I've never heard you talk about him before. It was always your mother this or your sister that. But never your father," Jiho slouched into his chair, buckling his seat belt for what may be the last time. "You don't get along or something?"
"I've talked about him before. Actually, he's the one who said I would be the perfect pilot for this. Especially since I designed it."
"I thought you said the Gen- "
Jiho's face was illuminated by the glow of the monitor. Kyung watched as his mind worked out the puzzle, why they weren't friends, why he had to be the one.
"Fuck, the General is your dad."
"Yep. So, if you're ready, let's boldly go and all that shit."
It got darker, colder. Kyung never worked well under those conditions.
"Jiho?"
"Yeah?"
"I just wanted to say goodbye, just in case. I didn't think I'd really have anyone to say goodbye to, but I think you should know that I'm sorry for everything. And I guess it was two weeks."
"What?" Jiho's confusion was the best thing Kyung had ever known. It was nice knowing of someone that didn't have everything figured out all the time.
"You asked how long until I would like you, remember? It was two weeks. After our second chamber assessment."
Jiho's hand found its way to Kyung, a light touch that seemed to burn and comfort at the same time. "Well, I'm not gonna say goodbye. I plan to see you when we get there. Or am I going alone?"
"Just push the fucking button."
Written for oberyns for the BLOCKisbang Summer 2014 Exchange. Many thanks to the Tooth Fairy for inspiration, frustration, and reminders. WE DID IT! I had never seen Pacific Rim, so I approached this huge idea with awkward grace and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Prompt: Pacific Rim!AU. Character A and Character B as co-pilots; where they are fighting this war for two completely different reasons, but in the end, find hope in each other when it seems that the day is lost.