A Fish in the City .... (No guys, Donghae is not in this fic.)
BUT YOU READ THAT RIGHT!
THIS IS A FIC!!!
Title: A Fish in the City
Pairing: Nichkhun / Wooyoung
Rating: Argh, let's say Pg-13
Words Count: 5127
Genre: Crack, I guess. Kind of indescribable.
Prompt: Their ability to abscond was severely hampered by Wooyoung's insistence of bringing the goldfish.
Summary: Jeez, isn't the prompt awesome enough already?
A/N: This is a request from taylorrenee_ily . She is the awesome person to have come up with the prompt. (BEST. PROMPT. EVER, by the way.)
(Even though this couldn't lead to something that actually made sense. This fic doesn't make any. Just deal with it.)
IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE LAST POSTED A FIC!! IT FEELS SO FREAKING GOOD!!!!!!!
...*cough* .... Enjoy.
A Fish in the City
Nichkhun and Wooyoung had gone missing.
But, of course, this wasn't what the other members first noticed.
“MY GOLDFISH IS GONE!!” they all heard Junsu screaming that morning, as they were all peacefully eating breakfast, and they instantly knew this was bad because that goldfish was Junsu's, and no one messed with Junsu's stuff.
None of them was truly awake yet (it was freaking five thirty in the morning) and Chansung was actually still snoring on the living room's floor, but all it took for them to start searching the whole dorm for the fish was Junsu's angry expression. Because, yes, that man could be the sweetest thing on Earth, but ever since that one time when Chansung had broken the lead singer's ipod by getting it wet a little (he had dropped it in the toilet), they were careful. Chansung still held a scar somewhere.
It wasn't until quite a while later, when the dorm was turned upside down and they were definitely late for they schedule of the day (and Jinyoung-hyung wasn't going to be happy about it, not at all), that Junho looked at a mad Junsu, an exhausted Chansung and a sweating Taecyeon, frowned and said, “Hey, hasn't anyone seen Nichkhun and Wooyoung?”
There was a silence.
o0O0o
Okay, here was the thing.
Nichkhun hadn't meant for it to happen like that. Actually, it had really just started with him brushing his teeth before going to bed.
The dorm had been quiet because almost everyone else had gone to bed some time ago. It had actually been so quiet, that he had jumped a little when Wooyoung had suddenly walked into the bathroom, and Nichkhun could remember quite clearly the younger's face looking a bit strange, especially in the dark, with the poor lighting of the room making his skin look paler than usual.
“We should go take a walk,” the younger man had casually said, as if it was a normal thing to do in the middle of the night, which had only caused Nichkhun to frown.
“We're not allowed to,” the Thai man had said.
“I know.”
Nichkhun's frown had deepened, and it had taken him quite a few long seconds to get that, oh, Wooyoung wanted to break the rules. Well, this was unexpected. Especially at midnight. Especially coming from Wooyoung. The reasonable thing to do would have been to tell the younger man to drop that idea and just go to bed because they had a very busy schedule the following day and Jinyoung-hyung wouldn't be happy to see them with dark circles and pale faces. (Even though they already looked like that pretty much all the time.)
But Nichkhun had looked at Wooyoung's face, and that had been his biggest mistake.
Because who could say no to those puppy eyes? Really, who?
“Okay,” he had said in a sigh.
And that was how they had both ended up in this weird-looking place, not quite a bar, but not quite a café, and not quite a safe place for idols to hang out either, especially at one in the morning, with nothing to defend themselves but... well, nothing. Nichkhun was feeling out of place, with all those eyes directed at him and Wooyoung. Those strangers were probably wondering what two celebrities could do in such a place, at such a time.
But, when he came to think of it, they could just be looking at the goldfish.
Seriously. Why had Wooyoung insisted on bringing that thing with them? Wasn't it risky enough for them to get caught already? Did they really need a goldfish to draw even more people's attention? To take exciting risks? To spice things up?
Well, this was spicy enough for the Thai man. He wanted to get back home before the others could wake up and notice their absence. Wooyoung would also need to put that fish back in Junsu's room without the latter noticing, unless he wanted to die in terrible pain or something.
“Wooyoung...” Nichkhun said quietly, while subtly grabbing the other's sleeve, but to no avail. The other man was too caught up in watching in awe the careless fish swimming aimlessly in its small spherical aquarium, which was resting on the table, as visible as it could get, as if it was absolutely normal to have a fish in a place like that. Nichkhun was feeling less and less secure. Those strangers were definitely looking at them, not just the fish, and the density of smoke in the air was slowly suffocating him, and he just couldn't understand why they had even walked in here in the first place.
It had been Wooyoung's idea, of course. They had been walking for a long time, probably an hour or so, and the younger man had been complaining about his hurting legs for at least twenty minutes when they had finally seen that old dirty door with unreadable words on it. (There was too much dirt to read, which wasn't exactly reassuring.) Of course, Wooyoung had seen it as an opportunity to rest, not scared at all by the sinister looks of the indescribable bar-café-whatever. Nichkhun had said it wasn't a good idea to go sit inside, that there had to be safer places somewhere, but... well.
Who could say no to those puppy eyes, right?
So there they were. And the Thai man wasn't relaxing at all.
“Wooyoung, I think we should go now.”
There was that girl in the corner, sitting alone at her small table. Black messy hair, about twenty layers of eyeliner, a cigarette in hand and a tattoo covering her whole right arm. Could she possibly be a fan? Judging from the way she was looking at them, it was either that or she was pondering how to assassinate them without anyone noticing. (It wouldn't be very hard, in fact, everyone seemed too much on drugs here to actually notice there was a world evolving around them.)
“Wooyoung, let's go.”
“But I'm still tired, hyung...”
The girl, a smirk on her lips, was slowly getting up from her chair.
“Wooyoung, get up.”
And she was walking towards their table.
“Wooyoung, take that fish of yours and get up!”
“It's not mine, it's Junsu-hyung's-”
Nichkhun didn't let him finish, and instead grabbed the aquarium with his right arm, Wooyoung's sleeve with his left hand, and dragged him outside before that girl could reach their table. (Luckily, she was apparently too drunk to run.)
o0O0o
“Okay, so if I get this right, you're telling me that Nichkhun and Wooyoung have disappeared during the night, without leaving a note, without anyone here noticing, and they would have left with apparently nothing else than their coats and... a fish? This is what you're telling me?”
Park Jinyoung raised an eyebrow at the four young men and their manager in a way that could have looked amused, but the boys knew better than to take this lightly. JYP was mad. Very mad. And they knew, just by this look, that if they didn't find the two others soon, things would get bad.
“Is anyone going to answer my question?” their producer asked, raising his eyebrow even higher, to the point where it disappeared behind his hair that he hadn't taken the time to style yet. (Six thirty was still a bit too early for it, apparently.) Oh, and the raised eyebrow never was a good sign.
There was a moment of silence, but when that eyebrow threatened to raise even higher, Junsu was the courageous one to clear his voice and mutter a very shy and shameful “yes”. Jinyoung's eyes fell on the lead vocalist and, for a minute, the latter felt like holes were being pierced in his skull. That man had very powerful eyes. He knew how to make you feel miserable when he felt the need too. (Fortunately he didn't use that talent too often.) It was a relief for the poor singer when those eyes finally left him to look at the rest of the group.
“You know how bad this would be if the medias had to find out.”
All the members, eyes on the floor, nodded.
“You know we have to find them soon.”
Nod.
“You also know we can't call the police because of the medias.”
Nod. Nod.
“I want them back by noon.”
Cough. Nod.
“I'll do what I can on my side, but I want you to look for them. You can't stop until we have found them.”
Somewhat of a nod.
“Call me if you find anything.”
And on this, the great JYP left the dorm. The silence that followed was incredibly heavy and overwhelming. That man had a gift for dramatic exits.
“Well,” Taecyeon said after a few very long seconds. “That went pretty well.”
The glares he received erased that stupid grin from his face.
o0O0o
Okay, so this was a bit better. Noraebangs usually freaked Nichkhun out, but after that weird smoky unnamed and creepy place they had just escaped from, he could deal with this.
“Hyung, we could sing Gee!”
Or maybe not.
“Oh, yeah, uh... go ahead. I'll just... you know... go to the bathroom. Don't wait for me,” he said, standing up and heading for the door.
SNSD was really cool, he didn't have anything against them. It was just that... well, he couldn't hear the song without thinking of Jokwon and his exaggerated dancing and smiley shirt anymore. He still had nightmares about it, sometimes.
He had never been to this noraebang in particular before, so he wasn't really familiar with the environment. He seriously hated how most public places assumed that clients would automatically know where to find the bathroom. He didn't want to ask an employee about it because he didn't want to risk being recognized. That lady who had assigned them a room earlier had looked at them a bit too insistently when they had walked in the establishment... but again it could be the fish. However, he was also afraid to draw people's attention with his fruitless searching too. It would probably be wiser to just ask that same lady who had greeted them, as weird and scary as she might appear.
He walked towards the hall, where he knew he would find her, and he was just about to turn the corner that would lead him to his destination when he heard suspicious voices. Girl voices. And just by hearing them, he knew they were fan girl voices. (He knew those voices damn too well.) He stopped in his tracks and remained hidden, listening carefully to what those girls were saying.
“...in room 12. I tell you, it was them!”
“You're joking!”
“I am serious!”
“Oh my god! Well, if you're right, then, what do we do?”
“They're here at such a weird hour, I'm pretty sure they don't want fans around them. So here's my plan. Go look for Aeyoung and Sanghee, I think they are cleaning the toilets, and in about ten minutes, we'll take the boys by surprise and make sure they give us their autographs. We could also take pictures. And since it's late and no one else's around, we could take... you know... interesting pictures. If you know what I mean... No one will have to know.”
Nichkhun ran back to the room and dragged Wooyoung out of the noraebang, ignoring the younger man's whining about the song not being over yet.
o0O0o
Jaebum knew he was important for 2PM, even after everything that had happened. He knew his leadership would be needed at some point, and that his leaving for Seattle would create some kind of chaos in the 2PM dorm. He knew they would end up calling him for advice. He just knew it.
But seriously, this?
“Please, Junho, tell me you're joking.”
“You have no idea how I wish I was.”
It indeed looked pretty chaotic over there. Even though he couldn't see anything, Jaebum could hear the other members' voices in the background, and also a lot of other sounds, as if the dorm was being sacked by polar bears. (Even though he had no idea what polar bears could be doing in Korea.) Taecyeon and Chansung seemed to be standing near Junho, as Jay could clearly hear them fighting over some futility.
“So we could put their picture on milk pints?” That had to be Taecyeon's voice.
“What kind of stupid idea is that?” And that was the magnae's, obviously.
“What? I'm just trying to help!”
“You always say stupid stuff when you shouldn't!”
“What, like you're any better?”
“Well, at least I can pronounce my own name right.”
“What? What the hell do you mean?”
“What I mean? 'Hello, this is Tech.' That's what I mean.”
“Oh, you motherf-”
“GUYS!! I'm on the freaking phone with Jay! Can't you keep quiet for two seconds!?”
Jaebum scrunched his nose at Junho's yelling, the other man's mouth still a bit too near the phone speaker for his liking. Apparently, things hadn't really changed since the last time he had been in this dorm.
“Okay, sorry about that. What was I even saying?” Junho asked, chuckling with what sounded like a bit of shame.
Jaebum frowned. “Uh, I'm not quite sure. Nichkhun and Wooyoung disappearing all of a sudden?”
“Yeah! Jeez, hyung, you have to help.”
The ex-leader's frown deepened. “Uh, look, Junho, I know this must be like hell over there, and I wish I could do something about it, but I don't really see what I could actually do. I'm in Seattle, just in case you hadn't noticed.”
There was a silence, and Jaebum could swear he was hearing the other man pouting.
“Junho, don't make me feel guilty. It's not like I can fly to Korea right now.”
Another silence.
“Junho, you CAN'T expect me to fly to Korea.”
Silence.
“Junho, say something.”
Silence.
“I am SO not flying to Korea.”
Silence.
“You watch too many movies, Junho. Real normal people don't buy plane tickets just like that.”
Silence.
“Do you even have the slightest idea of what time it is here?”
Silence.
“Okay, goodbye Junho. Call me if you find them.”
He hung up.
And Junho kept pouting. He was disappointed. His cute act used to work. What was wrong with it now?
o0O0o
After somewhat of a weird and questionable bar, plus a creepy noraebang, of course a small 24/7 shop would be next on the list. The poor employee standing behind the counter, a young boy not any older than 17 years old, was looking at them with a mix of curiosity and fear, and Nichkhun knew from his eyes that he hadn't recognized them. It probably wasn't that uncommon for two young men to walk in such a shop at three in the morning and walk around the aisles aimlessly, obviously having nothing better to do.
But it definitely was uncommon for two young men to do so with a goldfish.
That poor boy was probably wondering if he should call the police, if he was currently watching two crazy young men hiding from the people who wanted to put them back in the mental institute they had sneaked out of. Nichkhun could not really blame him for having such ideas. They did look suspicious. Or at least weird.
“Wooyoung,” Nichkhun whispered, while throwing a sympathetic look from time to time at the poor worried teenager behind the counter, fortunately too far away to hear them. “I know you wanted to get out of the dorm, get out of the world of music and fame and see something else for once, I know it's hard for you, just like it's hard for all of us, but I truly believe we should go back to the dorm. I mean, it's three in the morning, everyone is going to wake up in two hours and it is going to be hell if we're not here once they do so. We should go back home.”
He looked at Wooyoung with sympathy in his eyes, not unlike the way he had looked at the young employee of the shop a few seconds ago. Wooyoung had never really explained his reasons for wanting to “take a walk” so late at night, but Nichkhun could guess. It wasn't easy for anyone. Being an idol was hard, it was far from the glamorous image most people had of their situation. They had to work hard, and they hardly could get any decent night of sleep, but they had to keep going. They had to, for their fans, for JYP, for their friends and family, for their dream. Wooyoung was probably having doubts about his goals, about if this was really what he wanted, so Nichkhun guessed he should be the one to reassure him.
Wooyoung raised his eyes to look at Nichkhun, a confused expression on his face. He probably was surprised to see Nichkhun could understand him so well. The Thai young man was readier than ever to help him get over this difficult moment of self-questioning.
But yet, he wasn't expecting what was to come out of the younger man's mouth.
“What do you mean, hyung? I just wanted to show the city to Jordan. You know, he's always in Junsu-hyung's room, in the dark, and he never sees anything. I guessed he might be bored, so I thought he would like to take a walk.”
Wooyoung's tentative smile was so genuine, Nichkhun was speechless. What?
“And I don't feel like going back home yet, hyung.”
And on this, the younger man turned on his heels, aquarium still firmly pressed against his chest, and left the shop, probably expecting his Thai friend to follow him.
But Nichkhun was too stunned to do so. He knew that the other man was young and naïve, that he usually acted as if he was twelve years old instead of twenty. Nichkhun knew that. But could it really reach such a point?
Seriously?
And who would call a fish Jordan anyway?
o0O0o
“Still nothing, hyung,” Taecyeon said, a sorry expression on his face.
Junsu buried his face in his open palms, rubbing them against his skin as if it could erase the current situation they were in. Being the eldest (damn Jaebum for leaving), he was in charge of the search. And nothing was working like it should.
Well, first, they hadn't found their two missing bandmates, which automatically made everything a failure. But, as if this wasn't enough, Chansung had tripped on Junho's foot while the latter had been crouching to look under a bed, and the magnae had broken one of his fingers. They had had to call an ambulance, thus gaining the publicity they had been trying to avoid. Fortunately, the two boys' disappearance was still a secret, and Chansung's visit to the hospital might distract the fans from the actual problem at hand. The magnae had left with the ambulance about half an hour earlier with the manager, and there were now only three people left to search. (Four, if they counted JYP, but no one knew precisely what kind of searching he was doing.) It was nearing eight in the morning, they had looked everywhere in the dorm and in the rest of the building, Taecyeon had even checked outside, in the places he thought he might find them, but no one had found anything.
This was bad. JYP called from time to time, asking if they had clues, but the answer was always “no”. Junsu hated to think that he would have to repeat that same answer again on the next call, thus obtaining the typical JYP sigh, the one that could make anyone feel like shit.
“Did you really look everywhere?” Junsu asked, sounding desperate.
Face still buried in his hands, he felt, rather than saw, Taecyeon sit next to him on the couch.
“Everywhere I could think of.”
It was getting difficult because there were more and more people outside, thus more and more risks of being recognized, and that was without mentioning the immensity of the outside world. There were so many places to check. The two missing bandmates could be anywhere. Junsu was very well aware of that.
“We have to find them,” the eldest whispered.
“I know.”
It had all looked like a very bad joke at first. Junsu had been ready to kick his two friends' asses as soon as they would be back, just so that they would know what he thought of this kind of joke. But the members had been looking for over two hours now. And they still had no sign of the two.
“I think I'm worried.”
He felt a hand carefully landing on his back and stroking comfortingly, and he hated to think that this meant he wasn't the only one imagining horrible scenarios.
Where the hell were they?
o0O0o
Four thirty in the morning. Only half an hour until the other boys would wake up and find out about their two missing bandmates. Nichkhun had accepted the fact that they wouldn't make it back into their beds without anyone noticing.
They were sitting on a park bench, alone in the dark and cold, in silence. The small aquarium was sitting on the younger man's lap as the latter watched the fish swim. He looked fascinated by the motion. Nichkhun knew the other man was very young and naïve, but at this point, Wooyoung's attitude was probably due to exhaustion rather than anything else. The Thai man could tell from the dark circles that were slowly hollowing the skin under those eyes and heavy lids. That round face was also paler than usual. It was truly unreasonable for them to be outside at such a time, instead of sleeping. However, he could understand Wooyoung for not wanting to go back.
He still believed that the “showing the city to the fish” story did not exactly explain Wooyoung's reasons. He was actually pretty sure of it. There had to be something else, and considering the way Wooyoung seemed to get in a daze from time to time, staring into nothingness with a weird light in his eyes before snapping back to reality, there probably was.
However, Nichkhun didn't ask. He knew that this naivety was actually Wooyoung's stage personality, the one the company had assigned him. Wooyoung's true self wasn't the entire opposite of this stage self, but wasn't exactly identical either. But it was so much easier to stick to this imposed personality than his own. Nichkhun knew that too. It made the exhaustion, the fears and the doubts so much more bearable. Oh, how Nichkhun knew.
But he didn't ask anything because Wooyoung might feel attacked, and he didn't need that. Nichkhun didn't know exactly why Wooyoung had suddenly felt the need to get out of the dorm, but he knew enough.
Instead, he slung an arm around the other man's shoulders and stroked his hair faintly, comfortingly. It wasn't long until that head started leaning very slowly until it landed on the Thai man's shoulder. Nichkhun kissed Wooyoung's hair, tightening his hold on the other's frame, and he felt, by the way those shoulders slumped slightly and those muscles lost some of their tension, that no words were necessary. They could just stay like this. The cold wasn't bothering them anymore. The sun was about to rise, it was getting clearer. But they were still alone in the park.
“I like you,” came Wooyoung's voice in a whisper, subtly mixing with the soft whisper of the breeze, and Nichkhun had to wonder if he had really heard it.
But he had. And he smiled, kissing the other man's hair again, squeezing his shoulder as he said, “I like you too, Wooyoung, you know that. We all like you.”
For a moment, it felt like Wooyoung wasn't okay with that answer, it felt like he wanted to add something; Nichkhun could feel the frown on the other's face, even though he couldn't see it. But those lips that had been hanging open for a few seconds were closed again, and the frown disappeared, the younger man giving up on saying whatever he had wanted to say.
It didn't matter, Nichkhun thought. He would tell when he would want to. There was no rush, they had all the time in the world.
Right now, they could just stay like this.
o0O0o
“No, we don't have anything new.”
And there it was. The sigh. The one he had been fearing, and Junsu could hear Taecyeon's faint squeal as he dug his nails in the taller man's palm to take his mind away from the feeling of guilt his producer was giving him.
“Well, keep looking,” Park Jinyoung said, before hanging up.
The phone calls were always short, Junsu hadn't been expecting anything else. He put the phone down on the coffee table, and ignored Taecyeon as the latter stroked his own palm to erase the pain.
“I hate this,” Junsu said, burying his fingers in his hair.
“Yeah, me too.” Taecyeon said, though obviously not talking about the same thing as he stared at his abused palm. “It's a marvel it didn't bleed. I never knew Jinyoung-hyung scared you like that.”
“I'm not scared of him!”
“Well, then you just really hate me.” Taecyeon held his palm in his hyung's face as a proof.
There indeed were pretty deep red marks. Junsu rolled his eyes and sighed.
“I'll go get the first aid kit,” he said while standing up.
Taecyeon just nodded as he watched his hyung do so. Because talking might result in a slap in the face, and he had received enough in the past few hours.
Being the group's designated punching bag wasn't an easy task.
o0O0o
Five thirty.
They were late anyway. Everyone was probably already looking for them, and would be screaming at them once they got back. Whether they came back now or later, it didn't change anything. They could stay like this for another hour.
Or two...
o0O0o
It was around nine thirty in the morning when Taecyeon, who had been skimming the street again for the past half an hour and was finally coming back without any good news, saw two familiar figures walking in the opposite direction, towards him, but mainly towards the dorm.
It was Wooyoung, with the goldfish's aquarium in his arms, and Nichkhun, with an arm slung over the other man's shoulders, and they were walking. Slowly. As if they had all the time in the world. And that irritated Taecyeon, even though something in him wanted to find the scene beautiful. He wanted to scream at them so that they would hurry, but they were still in the middle of the street, with a lot strangers passing by. He didn't exactly want to draw any unnecessary attention. So he waited. Patiently. Arms crossed over his chest and eyebrows frowned.
“So?” he asked as soon as they were close enough to hear him, and he was surprised by how calm he could sound, even under such circumstances.
“So?” Nichkhun repeated, as if he had no idea what this meant.
Taecyeon sighed, closing his eyes for the dramatic effect it gave. “Where the hell were you?” He still sounded very calm.
Nichkhun shrugged, as if it was not a big deal. “We went for a walk.”
The taller man's eyebrows were very slightly raised. “For a walk? What, you want me to believe this?”
The Thai man smiled soberly. “No.”
And on this, he turned and gently dragged Wooyoung and the fish inside.
o0O0o
After a lot of screaming, shouting, flailing and questioning, plus the frightening silence only JYP could master, they all, except for Chansung, of course, went to their respective schedule, as if nothing had happened. The day was particularly long and exhausting for Nichkhun and Wooyoung, who hadn't slept at all, but they somehow made it through the day and came back home late at night, still in one piece. No one spoke about the previous events. Nichkhun and Wooyoung had refused to answer most of their questions (Why did you leave? Where did you go? What did you do? … Why the fish?), and the other members had eventually given up (“They don't look like they know the answers themselves, if you want my opinion, guys”). They had better things to do anyway.
Like sleeping, at the moment.
They all went to bed relatively early that night, which was a relief to everyone. They all fell asleep in a matter of seconds, and wished to wake up as late as possible.
It was thus an annoyance when someone knocked at the door at one in the morning.
The first and seconds rounds of knocking were ignored. But the third, with it's loudness and insistence, caused groaning, swearing and whining in the dorm. There was some shuffling in one of the rooms, and Junho finally came out of it, dragging himself along to the door while rubbing his eyes sleepily. He opened the door, ready to lecture the intruder on how rude it was to disturb someone's sleep like that at such a late hour of the night.
But he wasn't expecting to find himself face to face with this person.
“Hyung?” he asked, eyes as round as could be.
Jaebum was there, standing in front of him. And he looked pissed. Tired, exhausted, and utterly pissed.
“Happy?” he said, raising both of his arms, as if to emphasize his presence. “I'm here. I came. Now what the hell is going on here?”
Junho blinked, mouth hanging open. Obviously, he hadn't expected his cute act to be this effective. He hadn't expected Jaebum to actually fly to Korea, even though he had wished very hard for it to happen. It however didn't take him long to register what he was seeing. A smile slowly sneaked its way up to his lips and, in a matter of seconds, Jaebum was dragged in a tight, suffocating hug.
“Hyung.” Junho whispered in the other's ear, and as much as Jaebum wanted to say how gay this sounded...
Yeah, it felt good to be back.
THIS IS A FIC!!!
Title: A Fish in the City
Pairing: Nichkhun / Wooyoung
Rating: Argh, let's say Pg-13
Words Count: 5127
Genre: Crack, I guess. Kind of indescribable.
Prompt: Their ability to abscond was severely hampered by Wooyoung's insistence of bringing the goldfish.
Summary: Jeez, isn't the prompt awesome enough already?
A/N: This is a request from taylorrenee_ily . She is the awesome person to have come up with the prompt. (BEST. PROMPT. EVER, by the way.)
(Even though this couldn't lead to something that actually made sense. This fic doesn't make any. Just deal with it.)
IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE LAST POSTED A FIC!! IT FEELS SO FREAKING GOOD!!!!!!!
...*cough* .... Enjoy.
A Fish in the City
Nichkhun and Wooyoung had gone missing.
But, of course, this wasn't what the other members first noticed.
“MY GOLDFISH IS GONE!!” they all heard Junsu screaming that morning, as they were all peacefully eating breakfast, and they instantly knew this was bad because that goldfish was Junsu's, and no one messed with Junsu's stuff.
None of them was truly awake yet (it was freaking five thirty in the morning) and Chansung was actually still snoring on the living room's floor, but all it took for them to start searching the whole dorm for the fish was Junsu's angry expression. Because, yes, that man could be the sweetest thing on Earth, but ever since that one time when Chansung had broken the lead singer's ipod by getting it wet a little (he had dropped it in the toilet), they were careful. Chansung still held a scar somewhere.
It wasn't until quite a while later, when the dorm was turned upside down and they were definitely late for they schedule of the day (and Jinyoung-hyung wasn't going to be happy about it, not at all), that Junho looked at a mad Junsu, an exhausted Chansung and a sweating Taecyeon, frowned and said, “Hey, hasn't anyone seen Nichkhun and Wooyoung?”
There was a silence.
o0O0o
Okay, here was the thing.
Nichkhun hadn't meant for it to happen like that. Actually, it had really just started with him brushing his teeth before going to bed.
The dorm had been quiet because almost everyone else had gone to bed some time ago. It had actually been so quiet, that he had jumped a little when Wooyoung had suddenly walked into the bathroom, and Nichkhun could remember quite clearly the younger's face looking a bit strange, especially in the dark, with the poor lighting of the room making his skin look paler than usual.
“We should go take a walk,” the younger man had casually said, as if it was a normal thing to do in the middle of the night, which had only caused Nichkhun to frown.
“We're not allowed to,” the Thai man had said.
“I know.”
Nichkhun's frown had deepened, and it had taken him quite a few long seconds to get that, oh, Wooyoung wanted to break the rules. Well, this was unexpected. Especially at midnight. Especially coming from Wooyoung. The reasonable thing to do would have been to tell the younger man to drop that idea and just go to bed because they had a very busy schedule the following day and Jinyoung-hyung wouldn't be happy to see them with dark circles and pale faces. (Even though they already looked like that pretty much all the time.)
But Nichkhun had looked at Wooyoung's face, and that had been his biggest mistake.
Because who could say no to those puppy eyes? Really, who?
“Okay,” he had said in a sigh.
And that was how they had both ended up in this weird-looking place, not quite a bar, but not quite a café, and not quite a safe place for idols to hang out either, especially at one in the morning, with nothing to defend themselves but... well, nothing. Nichkhun was feeling out of place, with all those eyes directed at him and Wooyoung. Those strangers were probably wondering what two celebrities could do in such a place, at such a time.
But, when he came to think of it, they could just be looking at the goldfish.
Seriously. Why had Wooyoung insisted on bringing that thing with them? Wasn't it risky enough for them to get caught already? Did they really need a goldfish to draw even more people's attention? To take exciting risks? To spice things up?
Well, this was spicy enough for the Thai man. He wanted to get back home before the others could wake up and notice their absence. Wooyoung would also need to put that fish back in Junsu's room without the latter noticing, unless he wanted to die in terrible pain or something.
“Wooyoung...” Nichkhun said quietly, while subtly grabbing the other's sleeve, but to no avail. The other man was too caught up in watching in awe the careless fish swimming aimlessly in its small spherical aquarium, which was resting on the table, as visible as it could get, as if it was absolutely normal to have a fish in a place like that. Nichkhun was feeling less and less secure. Those strangers were definitely looking at them, not just the fish, and the density of smoke in the air was slowly suffocating him, and he just couldn't understand why they had even walked in here in the first place.
It had been Wooyoung's idea, of course. They had been walking for a long time, probably an hour or so, and the younger man had been complaining about his hurting legs for at least twenty minutes when they had finally seen that old dirty door with unreadable words on it. (There was too much dirt to read, which wasn't exactly reassuring.) Of course, Wooyoung had seen it as an opportunity to rest, not scared at all by the sinister looks of the indescribable bar-café-whatever. Nichkhun had said it wasn't a good idea to go sit inside, that there had to be safer places somewhere, but... well.
Who could say no to those puppy eyes, right?
So there they were. And the Thai man wasn't relaxing at all.
“Wooyoung, I think we should go now.”
There was that girl in the corner, sitting alone at her small table. Black messy hair, about twenty layers of eyeliner, a cigarette in hand and a tattoo covering her whole right arm. Could she possibly be a fan? Judging from the way she was looking at them, it was either that or she was pondering how to assassinate them without anyone noticing. (It wouldn't be very hard, in fact, everyone seemed too much on drugs here to actually notice there was a world evolving around them.)
“Wooyoung, let's go.”
“But I'm still tired, hyung...”
The girl, a smirk on her lips, was slowly getting up from her chair.
“Wooyoung, get up.”
And she was walking towards their table.
“Wooyoung, take that fish of yours and get up!”
“It's not mine, it's Junsu-hyung's-”
Nichkhun didn't let him finish, and instead grabbed the aquarium with his right arm, Wooyoung's sleeve with his left hand, and dragged him outside before that girl could reach their table. (Luckily, she was apparently too drunk to run.)
o0O0o
“Okay, so if I get this right, you're telling me that Nichkhun and Wooyoung have disappeared during the night, without leaving a note, without anyone here noticing, and they would have left with apparently nothing else than their coats and... a fish? This is what you're telling me?”
Park Jinyoung raised an eyebrow at the four young men and their manager in a way that could have looked amused, but the boys knew better than to take this lightly. JYP was mad. Very mad. And they knew, just by this look, that if they didn't find the two others soon, things would get bad.
“Is anyone going to answer my question?” their producer asked, raising his eyebrow even higher, to the point where it disappeared behind his hair that he hadn't taken the time to style yet. (Six thirty was still a bit too early for it, apparently.) Oh, and the raised eyebrow never was a good sign.
There was a moment of silence, but when that eyebrow threatened to raise even higher, Junsu was the courageous one to clear his voice and mutter a very shy and shameful “yes”. Jinyoung's eyes fell on the lead vocalist and, for a minute, the latter felt like holes were being pierced in his skull. That man had very powerful eyes. He knew how to make you feel miserable when he felt the need too. (Fortunately he didn't use that talent too often.) It was a relief for the poor singer when those eyes finally left him to look at the rest of the group.
“You know how bad this would be if the medias had to find out.”
All the members, eyes on the floor, nodded.
“You know we have to find them soon.”
Nod.
“You also know we can't call the police because of the medias.”
Nod. Nod.
“I want them back by noon.”
Cough. Nod.
“I'll do what I can on my side, but I want you to look for them. You can't stop until we have found them.”
Somewhat of a nod.
“Call me if you find anything.”
And on this, the great JYP left the dorm. The silence that followed was incredibly heavy and overwhelming. That man had a gift for dramatic exits.
“Well,” Taecyeon said after a few very long seconds. “That went pretty well.”
The glares he received erased that stupid grin from his face.
o0O0o
Okay, so this was a bit better. Noraebangs usually freaked Nichkhun out, but after that weird smoky unnamed and creepy place they had just escaped from, he could deal with this.
“Hyung, we could sing Gee!”
Or maybe not.
“Oh, yeah, uh... go ahead. I'll just... you know... go to the bathroom. Don't wait for me,” he said, standing up and heading for the door.
SNSD was really cool, he didn't have anything against them. It was just that... well, he couldn't hear the song without thinking of Jokwon and his exaggerated dancing and smiley shirt anymore. He still had nightmares about it, sometimes.
He had never been to this noraebang in particular before, so he wasn't really familiar with the environment. He seriously hated how most public places assumed that clients would automatically know where to find the bathroom. He didn't want to ask an employee about it because he didn't want to risk being recognized. That lady who had assigned them a room earlier had looked at them a bit too insistently when they had walked in the establishment... but again it could be the fish. However, he was also afraid to draw people's attention with his fruitless searching too. It would probably be wiser to just ask that same lady who had greeted them, as weird and scary as she might appear.
He walked towards the hall, where he knew he would find her, and he was just about to turn the corner that would lead him to his destination when he heard suspicious voices. Girl voices. And just by hearing them, he knew they were fan girl voices. (He knew those voices damn too well.) He stopped in his tracks and remained hidden, listening carefully to what those girls were saying.
“...in room 12. I tell you, it was them!”
“You're joking!”
“I am serious!”
“Oh my god! Well, if you're right, then, what do we do?”
“They're here at such a weird hour, I'm pretty sure they don't want fans around them. So here's my plan. Go look for Aeyoung and Sanghee, I think they are cleaning the toilets, and in about ten minutes, we'll take the boys by surprise and make sure they give us their autographs. We could also take pictures. And since it's late and no one else's around, we could take... you know... interesting pictures. If you know what I mean... No one will have to know.”
Nichkhun ran back to the room and dragged Wooyoung out of the noraebang, ignoring the younger man's whining about the song not being over yet.
o0O0o
Jaebum knew he was important for 2PM, even after everything that had happened. He knew his leadership would be needed at some point, and that his leaving for Seattle would create some kind of chaos in the 2PM dorm. He knew they would end up calling him for advice. He just knew it.
But seriously, this?
“Please, Junho, tell me you're joking.”
“You have no idea how I wish I was.”
It indeed looked pretty chaotic over there. Even though he couldn't see anything, Jaebum could hear the other members' voices in the background, and also a lot of other sounds, as if the dorm was being sacked by polar bears. (Even though he had no idea what polar bears could be doing in Korea.) Taecyeon and Chansung seemed to be standing near Junho, as Jay could clearly hear them fighting over some futility.
“So we could put their picture on milk pints?” That had to be Taecyeon's voice.
“What kind of stupid idea is that?” And that was the magnae's, obviously.
“What? I'm just trying to help!”
“You always say stupid stuff when you shouldn't!”
“What, like you're any better?”
“Well, at least I can pronounce my own name right.”
“What? What the hell do you mean?”
“What I mean? 'Hello, this is Tech.' That's what I mean.”
“Oh, you motherf-”
“GUYS!! I'm on the freaking phone with Jay! Can't you keep quiet for two seconds!?”
Jaebum scrunched his nose at Junho's yelling, the other man's mouth still a bit too near the phone speaker for his liking. Apparently, things hadn't really changed since the last time he had been in this dorm.
“Okay, sorry about that. What was I even saying?” Junho asked, chuckling with what sounded like a bit of shame.
Jaebum frowned. “Uh, I'm not quite sure. Nichkhun and Wooyoung disappearing all of a sudden?”
“Yeah! Jeez, hyung, you have to help.”
The ex-leader's frown deepened. “Uh, look, Junho, I know this must be like hell over there, and I wish I could do something about it, but I don't really see what I could actually do. I'm in Seattle, just in case you hadn't noticed.”
There was a silence, and Jaebum could swear he was hearing the other man pouting.
“Junho, don't make me feel guilty. It's not like I can fly to Korea right now.”
Another silence.
“Junho, you CAN'T expect me to fly to Korea.”
Silence.
“Junho, say something.”
Silence.
“I am SO not flying to Korea.”
Silence.
“You watch too many movies, Junho. Real normal people don't buy plane tickets just like that.”
Silence.
“Do you even have the slightest idea of what time it is here?”
Silence.
“Okay, goodbye Junho. Call me if you find them.”
He hung up.
And Junho kept pouting. He was disappointed. His cute act used to work. What was wrong with it now?
o0O0o
After somewhat of a weird and questionable bar, plus a creepy noraebang, of course a small 24/7 shop would be next on the list. The poor employee standing behind the counter, a young boy not any older than 17 years old, was looking at them with a mix of curiosity and fear, and Nichkhun knew from his eyes that he hadn't recognized them. It probably wasn't that uncommon for two young men to walk in such a shop at three in the morning and walk around the aisles aimlessly, obviously having nothing better to do.
But it definitely was uncommon for two young men to do so with a goldfish.
That poor boy was probably wondering if he should call the police, if he was currently watching two crazy young men hiding from the people who wanted to put them back in the mental institute they had sneaked out of. Nichkhun could not really blame him for having such ideas. They did look suspicious. Or at least weird.
“Wooyoung,” Nichkhun whispered, while throwing a sympathetic look from time to time at the poor worried teenager behind the counter, fortunately too far away to hear them. “I know you wanted to get out of the dorm, get out of the world of music and fame and see something else for once, I know it's hard for you, just like it's hard for all of us, but I truly believe we should go back to the dorm. I mean, it's three in the morning, everyone is going to wake up in two hours and it is going to be hell if we're not here once they do so. We should go back home.”
He looked at Wooyoung with sympathy in his eyes, not unlike the way he had looked at the young employee of the shop a few seconds ago. Wooyoung had never really explained his reasons for wanting to “take a walk” so late at night, but Nichkhun could guess. It wasn't easy for anyone. Being an idol was hard, it was far from the glamorous image most people had of their situation. They had to work hard, and they hardly could get any decent night of sleep, but they had to keep going. They had to, for their fans, for JYP, for their friends and family, for their dream. Wooyoung was probably having doubts about his goals, about if this was really what he wanted, so Nichkhun guessed he should be the one to reassure him.
Wooyoung raised his eyes to look at Nichkhun, a confused expression on his face. He probably was surprised to see Nichkhun could understand him so well. The Thai young man was readier than ever to help him get over this difficult moment of self-questioning.
But yet, he wasn't expecting what was to come out of the younger man's mouth.
“What do you mean, hyung? I just wanted to show the city to Jordan. You know, he's always in Junsu-hyung's room, in the dark, and he never sees anything. I guessed he might be bored, so I thought he would like to take a walk.”
Wooyoung's tentative smile was so genuine, Nichkhun was speechless. What?
“And I don't feel like going back home yet, hyung.”
And on this, the younger man turned on his heels, aquarium still firmly pressed against his chest, and left the shop, probably expecting his Thai friend to follow him.
But Nichkhun was too stunned to do so. He knew that the other man was young and naïve, that he usually acted as if he was twelve years old instead of twenty. Nichkhun knew that. But could it really reach such a point?
Seriously?
And who would call a fish Jordan anyway?
o0O0o
“Still nothing, hyung,” Taecyeon said, a sorry expression on his face.
Junsu buried his face in his open palms, rubbing them against his skin as if it could erase the current situation they were in. Being the eldest (damn Jaebum for leaving), he was in charge of the search. And nothing was working like it should.
Well, first, they hadn't found their two missing bandmates, which automatically made everything a failure. But, as if this wasn't enough, Chansung had tripped on Junho's foot while the latter had been crouching to look under a bed, and the magnae had broken one of his fingers. They had had to call an ambulance, thus gaining the publicity they had been trying to avoid. Fortunately, the two boys' disappearance was still a secret, and Chansung's visit to the hospital might distract the fans from the actual problem at hand. The magnae had left with the ambulance about half an hour earlier with the manager, and there were now only three people left to search. (Four, if they counted JYP, but no one knew precisely what kind of searching he was doing.) It was nearing eight in the morning, they had looked everywhere in the dorm and in the rest of the building, Taecyeon had even checked outside, in the places he thought he might find them, but no one had found anything.
This was bad. JYP called from time to time, asking if they had clues, but the answer was always “no”. Junsu hated to think that he would have to repeat that same answer again on the next call, thus obtaining the typical JYP sigh, the one that could make anyone feel like shit.
“Did you really look everywhere?” Junsu asked, sounding desperate.
Face still buried in his hands, he felt, rather than saw, Taecyeon sit next to him on the couch.
“Everywhere I could think of.”
It was getting difficult because there were more and more people outside, thus more and more risks of being recognized, and that was without mentioning the immensity of the outside world. There were so many places to check. The two missing bandmates could be anywhere. Junsu was very well aware of that.
“We have to find them,” the eldest whispered.
“I know.”
It had all looked like a very bad joke at first. Junsu had been ready to kick his two friends' asses as soon as they would be back, just so that they would know what he thought of this kind of joke. But the members had been looking for over two hours now. And they still had no sign of the two.
“I think I'm worried.”
He felt a hand carefully landing on his back and stroking comfortingly, and he hated to think that this meant he wasn't the only one imagining horrible scenarios.
Where the hell were they?
o0O0o
Four thirty in the morning. Only half an hour until the other boys would wake up and find out about their two missing bandmates. Nichkhun had accepted the fact that they wouldn't make it back into their beds without anyone noticing.
They were sitting on a park bench, alone in the dark and cold, in silence. The small aquarium was sitting on the younger man's lap as the latter watched the fish swim. He looked fascinated by the motion. Nichkhun knew the other man was very young and naïve, but at this point, Wooyoung's attitude was probably due to exhaustion rather than anything else. The Thai man could tell from the dark circles that were slowly hollowing the skin under those eyes and heavy lids. That round face was also paler than usual. It was truly unreasonable for them to be outside at such a time, instead of sleeping. However, he could understand Wooyoung for not wanting to go back.
He still believed that the “showing the city to the fish” story did not exactly explain Wooyoung's reasons. He was actually pretty sure of it. There had to be something else, and considering the way Wooyoung seemed to get in a daze from time to time, staring into nothingness with a weird light in his eyes before snapping back to reality, there probably was.
However, Nichkhun didn't ask. He knew that this naivety was actually Wooyoung's stage personality, the one the company had assigned him. Wooyoung's true self wasn't the entire opposite of this stage self, but wasn't exactly identical either. But it was so much easier to stick to this imposed personality than his own. Nichkhun knew that too. It made the exhaustion, the fears and the doubts so much more bearable. Oh, how Nichkhun knew.
But he didn't ask anything because Wooyoung might feel attacked, and he didn't need that. Nichkhun didn't know exactly why Wooyoung had suddenly felt the need to get out of the dorm, but he knew enough.
Instead, he slung an arm around the other man's shoulders and stroked his hair faintly, comfortingly. It wasn't long until that head started leaning very slowly until it landed on the Thai man's shoulder. Nichkhun kissed Wooyoung's hair, tightening his hold on the other's frame, and he felt, by the way those shoulders slumped slightly and those muscles lost some of their tension, that no words were necessary. They could just stay like this. The cold wasn't bothering them anymore. The sun was about to rise, it was getting clearer. But they were still alone in the park.
“I like you,” came Wooyoung's voice in a whisper, subtly mixing with the soft whisper of the breeze, and Nichkhun had to wonder if he had really heard it.
But he had. And he smiled, kissing the other man's hair again, squeezing his shoulder as he said, “I like you too, Wooyoung, you know that. We all like you.”
For a moment, it felt like Wooyoung wasn't okay with that answer, it felt like he wanted to add something; Nichkhun could feel the frown on the other's face, even though he couldn't see it. But those lips that had been hanging open for a few seconds were closed again, and the frown disappeared, the younger man giving up on saying whatever he had wanted to say.
It didn't matter, Nichkhun thought. He would tell when he would want to. There was no rush, they had all the time in the world.
Right now, they could just stay like this.
o0O0o
“No, we don't have anything new.”
And there it was. The sigh. The one he had been fearing, and Junsu could hear Taecyeon's faint squeal as he dug his nails in the taller man's palm to take his mind away from the feeling of guilt his producer was giving him.
“Well, keep looking,” Park Jinyoung said, before hanging up.
The phone calls were always short, Junsu hadn't been expecting anything else. He put the phone down on the coffee table, and ignored Taecyeon as the latter stroked his own palm to erase the pain.
“I hate this,” Junsu said, burying his fingers in his hair.
“Yeah, me too.” Taecyeon said, though obviously not talking about the same thing as he stared at his abused palm. “It's a marvel it didn't bleed. I never knew Jinyoung-hyung scared you like that.”
“I'm not scared of him!”
“Well, then you just really hate me.” Taecyeon held his palm in his hyung's face as a proof.
There indeed were pretty deep red marks. Junsu rolled his eyes and sighed.
“I'll go get the first aid kit,” he said while standing up.
Taecyeon just nodded as he watched his hyung do so. Because talking might result in a slap in the face, and he had received enough in the past few hours.
Being the group's designated punching bag wasn't an easy task.
o0O0o
Five thirty.
They were late anyway. Everyone was probably already looking for them, and would be screaming at them once they got back. Whether they came back now or later, it didn't change anything. They could stay like this for another hour.
Or two...
o0O0o
It was around nine thirty in the morning when Taecyeon, who had been skimming the street again for the past half an hour and was finally coming back without any good news, saw two familiar figures walking in the opposite direction, towards him, but mainly towards the dorm.
It was Wooyoung, with the goldfish's aquarium in his arms, and Nichkhun, with an arm slung over the other man's shoulders, and they were walking. Slowly. As if they had all the time in the world. And that irritated Taecyeon, even though something in him wanted to find the scene beautiful. He wanted to scream at them so that they would hurry, but they were still in the middle of the street, with a lot strangers passing by. He didn't exactly want to draw any unnecessary attention. So he waited. Patiently. Arms crossed over his chest and eyebrows frowned.
“So?” he asked as soon as they were close enough to hear him, and he was surprised by how calm he could sound, even under such circumstances.
“So?” Nichkhun repeated, as if he had no idea what this meant.
Taecyeon sighed, closing his eyes for the dramatic effect it gave. “Where the hell were you?” He still sounded very calm.
Nichkhun shrugged, as if it was not a big deal. “We went for a walk.”
The taller man's eyebrows were very slightly raised. “For a walk? What, you want me to believe this?”
The Thai man smiled soberly. “No.”
And on this, he turned and gently dragged Wooyoung and the fish inside.
o0O0o
After a lot of screaming, shouting, flailing and questioning, plus the frightening silence only JYP could master, they all, except for Chansung, of course, went to their respective schedule, as if nothing had happened. The day was particularly long and exhausting for Nichkhun and Wooyoung, who hadn't slept at all, but they somehow made it through the day and came back home late at night, still in one piece. No one spoke about the previous events. Nichkhun and Wooyoung had refused to answer most of their questions (Why did you leave? Where did you go? What did you do? … Why the fish?), and the other members had eventually given up (“They don't look like they know the answers themselves, if you want my opinion, guys”). They had better things to do anyway.
Like sleeping, at the moment.
They all went to bed relatively early that night, which was a relief to everyone. They all fell asleep in a matter of seconds, and wished to wake up as late as possible.
It was thus an annoyance when someone knocked at the door at one in the morning.
The first and seconds rounds of knocking were ignored. But the third, with it's loudness and insistence, caused groaning, swearing and whining in the dorm. There was some shuffling in one of the rooms, and Junho finally came out of it, dragging himself along to the door while rubbing his eyes sleepily. He opened the door, ready to lecture the intruder on how rude it was to disturb someone's sleep like that at such a late hour of the night.
But he wasn't expecting to find himself face to face with this person.
“Hyung?” he asked, eyes as round as could be.
Jaebum was there, standing in front of him. And he looked pissed. Tired, exhausted, and utterly pissed.
“Happy?” he said, raising both of his arms, as if to emphasize his presence. “I'm here. I came. Now what the hell is going on here?”
Junho blinked, mouth hanging open. Obviously, he hadn't expected his cute act to be this effective. He hadn't expected Jaebum to actually fly to Korea, even though he had wished very hard for it to happen. It however didn't take him long to register what he was seeing. A smile slowly sneaked its way up to his lips and, in a matter of seconds, Jaebum was dragged in a tight, suffocating hug.
“Hyung.” Junho whispered in the other's ear, and as much as Jaebum wanted to say how gay this sounded...
Yeah, it felt good to be back.