Fanfic: Beneath Your Constellation (Siwon/Kyuhyun) - Interlude 1
Title: Beneath Your Constellation (Interlude 1)
Authors: bl4ckm4lice and jusrecht
Fandom: Super Junior RPF
Pairing: Others/Kyuhyun (background Siwon/Kyuhyun)
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: For subject matter like child prostitution and sexual torture.
Word Count: ~3100
Summary: Host Club/Futuristic AU. Kyuhyun from Jonghyun's eyes.
A/N: This is a separate installation because it doesn't follow the usual timeline. Being a sort of background story for Kyuhyun, there will be a lot of OtherMen/Kyuhyun here and almost no Siwon, so be warned in advance :)
And as usual, the lovely artwork © bl4ckm4lice ^^
previous
all chapters
The first time Jonghyun saw the boy was during his early days in Zhou Mi’s service. Having been hired due to his good looks first and skills in martial arts second, he often found himself accompanying Zhou Mi to formal invitations and social functions. This one was no different: a friendly, private teatime invitation, held in a grand, opulent mansion located in the middle of an estate which spanned across an entire satellite.
It was a new trend then, rich people buying satellites like they would tropical islands back in the olden days. Despite his many years of wearing a well-trained poker face, he still felt a sense of amazement once he had stepped foot inside the place.
And even more when he saw him.
"This is my Kyuhyun," the Councillor introduced a lithe boy with unnaturally natural beauty. Aside from lavish jewels circling around his neck and wrists, the small piece of cloth wrapped around his waist barely covered enough of his private parts, more less the unblemished expanse of pale skin.
"So this is why you've been sticking to public parties and forgoing private calls for years now, Dongwan." Zhou Mi smiled in carefully calculated appreciation towards the boy sitting on Dongwan's lap. "I thought one of my boys have offended you in some ways."
"That's impossible! Your boys are perfect, you know that. It's just that my Kyuhyun gets lonely easily," the Councillor pulled Kyuhyun closer to him, "don't you?"
"Master," Kyuhyun bowed shyly, placing his head on his master's shoulder.
Jonghyun looked away with a frown. This sort of practice was by no means unheard-of, and yet he could not help but find it distasteful. There were always some people with too much money on their hands who would be interested to pick boys from a very young age-to be nurtured from a tiny bud until they were delicious and ripe, ready to be plucked. In theory, they were not regarded as slaves (because slavery was illegal) but more like a case of adoption. A very crooked, disgusting interpretation of adoption to which no one really bothered to pay attention. In the end, it was all about savoring the sweet juice.
No, Jonghyun was not unfamiliar with the antics of the rich. He was far from naive.
The boy, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. His master was his everything, his whole world, as he had been trained to accept. The time before he had been brought into the estate was probably nothing more than a blurred memory. He looked like the perfect example of a pet, following his master's whims unquestionably-no doubt including bedroom activities despite the innocence radiating from him, as proven by the way Dongwan's hand currently wandered inside the flimsy cloth, seemingly busy exploring the boy's behind.
None of them pointed out Kyuhyun's reddening face and his soft, muffled gasps throughout the tea party.
"He's something special, don’t you agree?" The Councillor said proudly as he bestowed his Kyuhyun with a gentle kiss on the cheek.
Zhou Mi murmured a few words of admiration. Jonghyun had never been more grateful that his job didn’t demand him to speak.
It wasn’t until five years later that their paths crossed once more.
Jonghyun found himself once again shaken, except this time from an entirely different cause. The boy before him looked completely different from what he remembered. Gone was the glowing, pampered air. His once-kempt hair was now a mess. His whole body was dirty from his stay in the small cell for a month-as the Councillor had told them disdainfully-and he hadn't even been spared any cloth to cover himself.
The worst of all, though, were his eyes.
Empty.
Lost and confused, sure, most likely wondering what he had done wrong, what had made his master take back all the love he had been granted with all these years. He was the exact picture of what he really was, reduced to the very core of his status: a slave, one who had lost his master’s favor.
But mostly his eyes looked hollow, lifeless and empty even as he stared up at the men who stood in front of the cell, observing him.
Like a dying animal, Jonghyun couldn’t help but think.
“We will begin,” a disembodied voice suddenly echoed in the room.
There was a low, humming sound, like that of an electric machinery. The boy jumped, now on his knees, his face full of fear. Small, terrified noises were breeding in his throat as he tried to stand on his feet, but the height of the cell and his shaking limbs were against him.
The humming sound grew louder and louder. Kyuhyun was now moaning, his expression scrunched up in pain and fright. He was trying to get away, but there was nowhere else he could go. Huddling and twitching in a corner, the noises he was making became louder and louder, until they turned into a series of high-pitched screams.
Then it was over.
The ensuing silence was deafening. Jonghyun could feel the sweat on his back as he realized what had just happened. His worst suspicion was confirmed when the same emotionless voice explained the use of electric current for the ‘exhibition’-to minimize the damage inflicted on the merchandise, who is not only resilient to pain but also in possession of a pleasing voice…
Jonghyun had seen many repellent things in this job, but even he had to suppress an urge not to vomit. Zhou Mi, standing silently next to him, was now wearing one of his inscrutable masks.
“I want to inspect him,” came the voice of their guest of honor.
Zhou Mi nodded and led them down from the observation gallery to the cell. Kyuhyun was watching their approach, eyes wide with fear. Still, he remained silent when his soon-to-be new master grabbed his chin. The arrogant billionaire with wild eyes and rough hands grinned in satisfaction as he inspected his ‘merchandise’ more closely.
"I like him, Zhou Mi. Settle it with the Councillor. I want to bring him home now."
Zhou Mi bowed and excused himself after telling Jonghyun to stay behind for a little while with their honored guest and Kyuhyun. Although it was common practice to release slaves once they had lost their masters’ interest’, Zhou Mi would sometimes do these things as a favor to his special clients, arranging transactions to sell and buy a particular slave under the table. Jay had had his eyes on Kyuhyun for a long time, spotting him on the Councillor's lap during one of his parties, and he had made sure right away that Zhou Mi was aware of his interest. And so when Dongwan started putting in private calls for his boys again, Zhou Mi knew that the time had come for his other client to get what he wanted.
"Oh, Kyuhyun…" Jay leaned close and sniffed at Kyuhyun, ignoring the frightened shiver that ran through the boy. "How come you smell so good?"
Chapped lips pressed against the soft skin. Teeth followed. Kyuhyun flinched, but didn’t pull away. With tears still streaming down his face, he looked so, so lovely-so much that Jonghyun felt sick of himself for even allowing the thought to enter his mind.
"You know, I've imagined that you'd taste so good… But to taste this sweet…" A tongue lapped its way up Kyuhyun's neck and the boy shook so badly he seemed like he was having a seizure. "I can't wait until I have my way with you later..."
It was too much for the boy, Jonghyun could see. After all, he had been raised to be loved only by his master, so another man's kisses and touches were not only foreign, but also unnerving, especially since they were far different from his master's gentle ways. As the billionaire's hand wandered lower and lower, Kyuhyun began trying to put a distance between them.
"No… please… don't..." he pleaded with a faint, quivering voice-
A slap silenced all his attempts to resist. Jay pushed the boy down easily before hovering above him, the look on his face menacingly furious.
"Look at what you've done." Jay stroke the slowly reddening cheek. "You dare to defy me so I have to hurt you. Even though I'm being so kind and taking you in. You, who has been abandoned by your own master..."
Kyuhyun stilled, lips pressed tight with a pained expression.
"That's right, you've been thrown away. He doesn't want you anymore. But I do." His fingers ran along the boy's naked chest all the way up until he gripped a handful of dark hair and pulled Kyuhyun up carelessly. "I'll take good care of you, my Kyuhyun. Forget that boring old man. I'm gonna introduce you to many wonders of the world you have never even imagined."
Jay bit down on his neck violently, ignoring Kyuhyun's whimpers and pitiful tears. It was but an example of what was waiting for his slaves once they had become his. Jonghyun teared his gaze away, luckily finding his excuse for doing so walk in just in time. Zhou Mi kept his business smile ready on his face as he said, "My, my, I know you are impatient, but you have all the time in the world now that you can take him back home."
Slightly irritated for the interruption but knowing better than to make a ruckus in the house of a politically powerful man such as Councillor Kim, Jay stood up and let the cowering boy go. "Forget his bunk,” he stated as he walked past Zhou Mi toward the door. “I'm having him in the shuttle right away. Clean him up and make him ready for me."
"Of course," Zhou Mi bowed, waiting until the billionaire had left the room. Once they could no longer hear the sound of his footsteps, he turned towards Kyuhyun and handed him a pill.
"You better take it before he starts on you," Zhou Mi said in a monotone. “It will numb your senses. Can't have you fainting during your first time with him."
The boy paled visibly. It was this expression, frozen in a moment of terror and helplessness, that Jonghyun etched into his memory. He had heard tales about those unlucky enough to capture Jay's attention, what kind of fate waiting for them at the end of the road.
This, he knew, might be the last time they met.
But it wasn’t.
Jonghyun was surprised, but when he found Kyuhyun standing before their club’s entrance many months later, he knew exactly what had happened.
"I want to see Zhou Mi."
"He's not here," Jonghyun heard himself answer-and even add a moment later, although he certainly was in no way obliged to. "He's out at a meeting."
"Then I'll wait inside." With that, Kyuhyun strutted in, walking past a number of curious guests waiting in the lounge. Jonghyun reacted quickly. He seized Kyuhyun’s hand and pulled him away from the lounge, facing immediate resistance from the panicking boy.
"I said I'll wait!"
"You're attracting too much attention," Jonghyun muttered without even sparing him a glance. "If you don't follow me, I'll throw you out."
Kyuhyun ceased his struggle, allowing Jonghyun to take him to the side hallway and into an empty room. "Wait here," Jonghyun said, motioning toward the several chairs available in the room. He himself remained standing by the door after he had left Zhou Mi a message, watching the boy fidget in silence.
It was really a coincidence that he happened to be the one on duty. If it had been anyone else, they would never have allowed Kyuhyun to step one foot into the place, what's with his rugged clothing and numerous scratches, bruises, and burn marks. Jonghyun couldn’t help but notice how skinny he was too, his sunken cheeks even more obvious under a pair of large, desperate eyes.
Zhou Mi, predictably enough, was far from impressed when he walked into the room a couple of hours later.
"Get out of here."
Kyuhyun stood up and fell onto his knees in front of Zhou Mi. "Please..."
"This isn't a shelter. I'm running a fucking business." He shot Jonghyun a glare, obviously expecting better from him than actually inviting Kyuhyun in.
Jonghyun didn't flinch.
"Then let me work for you."
"I have no use for the likes of you." Zhou Mi bent down and stared straight into Kyuhyun's eyes, unsympathetic and intimidating. "I pick my boys and I'm very selective."
Kyuhyun bit his lips and swallowed. "I will do anything."
"You want to work for me so much that you ran away from your master?" Taking in Kyuhyun's flinch, Zhou Mi narrowed his eyes. "I can tell the difference between a free person and a runaway slave. You think that you can protect yourself from him by working here. Well, I'm not interested in losing my client over someone like you-"
"I know that he is banned from your club," Kyuhyun suddenly spoke up. "I know that he's not even allowed to step out of the seventh colony anymore. I know that he no longer has enough power or money to look for me, a worthless, easily replaceable slave." He paused, as if waiting for a reaction. When Zhou Mi granted him none, he added, "I learned a lot of things. My escape wasn't a lucky break."
Zhou Mi looked at him for a long time. This time, Kyuhyun met his gaze head on and didn’t look away even for a moment.
"...How desperate are you, boy?"
"Very."
"You have nowhere else to go."
"No, I don't."
"Then let me tell you this.” Zhou Mi rose to his feet, his expression hard. “The violence, the brutal ways your master inflicted on you aren't unusual among my clients. What most of them desire is a good toy who in the end will say yes to anything they want. Will you say yes to anything they want?"
Kyuhyun didn't take long to answer. "Yes."
"Even if they will break you?"
"Then you will fix me," Kyuhyun said quickly. "Like with the pill you gave me back then."
"I will fix you only so they can break you again. You won't feel safe, you won't feel protected, and you won't feel loved."
There was a flicker of something different in Kyuhyun’s eyes for a moment, but once more it was quickly overwhelmed by desperation. "But they will want me."
A sneer curled Zhou Mi’s lips. “How would you know?”
“Because I will make them.” The answer came clearly, without doubt, a vow if he had ever heard one. “I swear I will.”
“Prove it.” Zhou Mi straightened his back after a brief pause. "You have three months. If you fail the evaluation, then you’ll get out of my sight. Do I make myself clear?"
The look on Kyuhyun's face was answer enough.
Jonghyun did not believe in fate.
Except when it came to one person. Kyuhyun barged into his life like a hurricane, turned it upside down, and etched himself so deep in Jonghyun’s heart that any hope of removal was virtually, if not completely, impossible.
Not that he had any idea of such an end in the beginning. It was part of Zhou Mi's revenge that he made the boy Jonghyun's sole responsibility. (You let him in; now you deal with him, were more or less his words.) Jonghyun soon found himself overseeing Kyuhyun's training despite never directly taking part in it, and before long, Kyuhyun already took so much space in his day-to-day happening that he inevitably became an integral part of Jonghyun’s life.
But it wasn't until Kyuhyun's second year as a host that Jonghyun realized that he cared-cared so much that he was afraid. He wasn’t a violent man by nature, but when he walked into a hotel room and found Kyuhyun on the bed with red slashes on the inside of his thighs, still dripping blood onto the crumpled white sheet, Jonghyun realized that he wanted to murder someone.
“Can you help me?”
To this day, he still remembers the sound of Kyuhyun’s voice back then. It was bleak, hollow, utterly devoid of any emotion which made a voice a voice. Jonghyun noticed his hand shaking when he removed the bloodied knife from where it lay between Kyuhyun’s legs. It was not difficult to imagine what had happened.
And then he saw the belt. Kyuhyun’s belt. The one that would have immediately summoned Jonghyun into the room with only one press to the buckle, lying on a pillow-completely within reach.
A second wave of overwhelming anger surged inside him. Jonghyun suppressed it just as he always had, focusing instead on trying to lift Kyuhyun into his arms without agitating his wounds too much. Kyuhyun never made a sound. He stubbornly stared up at the ceiling as Jonghyun carried him to the nearest teleport
All the way, Kyuhyun only treated him with silence. Jonghyun responded in kind-and maybe he was also partly relieved, for he had no word to give to a person who was determined to sell himself to the highest bidder at whatever cost. This was the sort of silence-meet-silence relationship they continued to maintain throughout the years as he watched how a scrawny boy with little charm and a broken heart turned into one of the most desirable men in this side of the galaxy.
Jonghyun never considered the word love. Love was the beautiful, short-lived blossom Kyuhyun had crushed under his heels when he had chosen to deny himself the luxury of falling in love with Shim Changmin. What they had was not love-and yet, for him, it was enough.
Until Choi Siwon.
In the beginning, he had only been one of the masses. Many men chased Kyuhyun with the same desperate obsession, which only served to make them look pathetic. Kyuhyun would lead them on a merry dance until he found their purpose exhausted or they finally gave up and settled for an easier choice. 'Twas ever thus.
Choi Siwon, however, soon proved himself to be an exception to the rule. Not only that he climbed so quickly in the hierarchy that made their world, he also turned out to be so bad at giving up that no matter what Kyuhyun threw at his direction, he simply would never stop. It was this single-minded tenacity that set him apart from the rest of the crowd, but even that wouldn’t have mattered much if Kyuhyun had ignored him.
Kyuhyun had not. And Jonghyun knew exactly what Choi Siwon was when Kyuhyun refused to stop humoring him.
“He’s going to be your downfall.”
Kyuhyun remained silent in his sleep. Jonghyun sighed, wishing that he had the courage to say it when the other man was awake, and left the room.
End
Authors: bl4ckm4lice and jusrecht
Fandom: Super Junior RPF
Pairing: Others/Kyuhyun (background Siwon/Kyuhyun)
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: For subject matter like child prostitution and sexual torture.
Word Count: ~3100
Summary: Host Club/Futuristic AU. Kyuhyun from Jonghyun's eyes.
A/N: This is a separate installation because it doesn't follow the usual timeline. Being a sort of background story for Kyuhyun, there will be a lot of OtherMen/Kyuhyun here and almost no Siwon, so be warned in advance :)
And as usual, the lovely artwork © bl4ckm4lice ^^
previous
all chapters
The first time Jonghyun saw the boy was during his early days in Zhou Mi’s service. Having been hired due to his good looks first and skills in martial arts second, he often found himself accompanying Zhou Mi to formal invitations and social functions. This one was no different: a friendly, private teatime invitation, held in a grand, opulent mansion located in the middle of an estate which spanned across an entire satellite.
It was a new trend then, rich people buying satellites like they would tropical islands back in the olden days. Despite his many years of wearing a well-trained poker face, he still felt a sense of amazement once he had stepped foot inside the place.
And even more when he saw him.
"This is my Kyuhyun," the Councillor introduced a lithe boy with unnaturally natural beauty. Aside from lavish jewels circling around his neck and wrists, the small piece of cloth wrapped around his waist barely covered enough of his private parts, more less the unblemished expanse of pale skin.
"So this is why you've been sticking to public parties and forgoing private calls for years now, Dongwan." Zhou Mi smiled in carefully calculated appreciation towards the boy sitting on Dongwan's lap. "I thought one of my boys have offended you in some ways."
"That's impossible! Your boys are perfect, you know that. It's just that my Kyuhyun gets lonely easily," the Councillor pulled Kyuhyun closer to him, "don't you?"
"Master," Kyuhyun bowed shyly, placing his head on his master's shoulder.
Jonghyun looked away with a frown. This sort of practice was by no means unheard-of, and yet he could not help but find it distasteful. There were always some people with too much money on their hands who would be interested to pick boys from a very young age-to be nurtured from a tiny bud until they were delicious and ripe, ready to be plucked. In theory, they were not regarded as slaves (because slavery was illegal) but more like a case of adoption. A very crooked, disgusting interpretation of adoption to which no one really bothered to pay attention. In the end, it was all about savoring the sweet juice.
No, Jonghyun was not unfamiliar with the antics of the rich. He was far from naive.
The boy, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. His master was his everything, his whole world, as he had been trained to accept. The time before he had been brought into the estate was probably nothing more than a blurred memory. He looked like the perfect example of a pet, following his master's whims unquestionably-no doubt including bedroom activities despite the innocence radiating from him, as proven by the way Dongwan's hand currently wandered inside the flimsy cloth, seemingly busy exploring the boy's behind.
None of them pointed out Kyuhyun's reddening face and his soft, muffled gasps throughout the tea party.
"He's something special, don’t you agree?" The Councillor said proudly as he bestowed his Kyuhyun with a gentle kiss on the cheek.
Zhou Mi murmured a few words of admiration. Jonghyun had never been more grateful that his job didn’t demand him to speak.
It wasn’t until five years later that their paths crossed once more.
Jonghyun found himself once again shaken, except this time from an entirely different cause. The boy before him looked completely different from what he remembered. Gone was the glowing, pampered air. His once-kempt hair was now a mess. His whole body was dirty from his stay in the small cell for a month-as the Councillor had told them disdainfully-and he hadn't even been spared any cloth to cover himself.
The worst of all, though, were his eyes.
Empty.
Lost and confused, sure, most likely wondering what he had done wrong, what had made his master take back all the love he had been granted with all these years. He was the exact picture of what he really was, reduced to the very core of his status: a slave, one who had lost his master’s favor.
But mostly his eyes looked hollow, lifeless and empty even as he stared up at the men who stood in front of the cell, observing him.
Like a dying animal, Jonghyun couldn’t help but think.
“We will begin,” a disembodied voice suddenly echoed in the room.
There was a low, humming sound, like that of an electric machinery. The boy jumped, now on his knees, his face full of fear. Small, terrified noises were breeding in his throat as he tried to stand on his feet, but the height of the cell and his shaking limbs were against him.
The humming sound grew louder and louder. Kyuhyun was now moaning, his expression scrunched up in pain and fright. He was trying to get away, but there was nowhere else he could go. Huddling and twitching in a corner, the noises he was making became louder and louder, until they turned into a series of high-pitched screams.
Then it was over.
The ensuing silence was deafening. Jonghyun could feel the sweat on his back as he realized what had just happened. His worst suspicion was confirmed when the same emotionless voice explained the use of electric current for the ‘exhibition’-to minimize the damage inflicted on the merchandise, who is not only resilient to pain but also in possession of a pleasing voice…
Jonghyun had seen many repellent things in this job, but even he had to suppress an urge not to vomit. Zhou Mi, standing silently next to him, was now wearing one of his inscrutable masks.
“I want to inspect him,” came the voice of their guest of honor.
Zhou Mi nodded and led them down from the observation gallery to the cell. Kyuhyun was watching their approach, eyes wide with fear. Still, he remained silent when his soon-to-be new master grabbed his chin. The arrogant billionaire with wild eyes and rough hands grinned in satisfaction as he inspected his ‘merchandise’ more closely.
"I like him, Zhou Mi. Settle it with the Councillor. I want to bring him home now."
Zhou Mi bowed and excused himself after telling Jonghyun to stay behind for a little while with their honored guest and Kyuhyun. Although it was common practice to release slaves once they had lost their masters’ interest’, Zhou Mi would sometimes do these things as a favor to his special clients, arranging transactions to sell and buy a particular slave under the table. Jay had had his eyes on Kyuhyun for a long time, spotting him on the Councillor's lap during one of his parties, and he had made sure right away that Zhou Mi was aware of his interest. And so when Dongwan started putting in private calls for his boys again, Zhou Mi knew that the time had come for his other client to get what he wanted.
"Oh, Kyuhyun…" Jay leaned close and sniffed at Kyuhyun, ignoring the frightened shiver that ran through the boy. "How come you smell so good?"
Chapped lips pressed against the soft skin. Teeth followed. Kyuhyun flinched, but didn’t pull away. With tears still streaming down his face, he looked so, so lovely-so much that Jonghyun felt sick of himself for even allowing the thought to enter his mind.
"You know, I've imagined that you'd taste so good… But to taste this sweet…" A tongue lapped its way up Kyuhyun's neck and the boy shook so badly he seemed like he was having a seizure. "I can't wait until I have my way with you later..."
It was too much for the boy, Jonghyun could see. After all, he had been raised to be loved only by his master, so another man's kisses and touches were not only foreign, but also unnerving, especially since they were far different from his master's gentle ways. As the billionaire's hand wandered lower and lower, Kyuhyun began trying to put a distance between them.
"No… please… don't..." he pleaded with a faint, quivering voice-
A slap silenced all his attempts to resist. Jay pushed the boy down easily before hovering above him, the look on his face menacingly furious.
"Look at what you've done." Jay stroke the slowly reddening cheek. "You dare to defy me so I have to hurt you. Even though I'm being so kind and taking you in. You, who has been abandoned by your own master..."
Kyuhyun stilled, lips pressed tight with a pained expression.
"That's right, you've been thrown away. He doesn't want you anymore. But I do." His fingers ran along the boy's naked chest all the way up until he gripped a handful of dark hair and pulled Kyuhyun up carelessly. "I'll take good care of you, my Kyuhyun. Forget that boring old man. I'm gonna introduce you to many wonders of the world you have never even imagined."
Jay bit down on his neck violently, ignoring Kyuhyun's whimpers and pitiful tears. It was but an example of what was waiting for his slaves once they had become his. Jonghyun teared his gaze away, luckily finding his excuse for doing so walk in just in time. Zhou Mi kept his business smile ready on his face as he said, "My, my, I know you are impatient, but you have all the time in the world now that you can take him back home."
Slightly irritated for the interruption but knowing better than to make a ruckus in the house of a politically powerful man such as Councillor Kim, Jay stood up and let the cowering boy go. "Forget his bunk,” he stated as he walked past Zhou Mi toward the door. “I'm having him in the shuttle right away. Clean him up and make him ready for me."
"Of course," Zhou Mi bowed, waiting until the billionaire had left the room. Once they could no longer hear the sound of his footsteps, he turned towards Kyuhyun and handed him a pill.
"You better take it before he starts on you," Zhou Mi said in a monotone. “It will numb your senses. Can't have you fainting during your first time with him."
The boy paled visibly. It was this expression, frozen in a moment of terror and helplessness, that Jonghyun etched into his memory. He had heard tales about those unlucky enough to capture Jay's attention, what kind of fate waiting for them at the end of the road.
This, he knew, might be the last time they met.
But it wasn’t.
Jonghyun was surprised, but when he found Kyuhyun standing before their club’s entrance many months later, he knew exactly what had happened.
"I want to see Zhou Mi."
"He's not here," Jonghyun heard himself answer-and even add a moment later, although he certainly was in no way obliged to. "He's out at a meeting."
"Then I'll wait inside." With that, Kyuhyun strutted in, walking past a number of curious guests waiting in the lounge. Jonghyun reacted quickly. He seized Kyuhyun’s hand and pulled him away from the lounge, facing immediate resistance from the panicking boy.
"I said I'll wait!"
"You're attracting too much attention," Jonghyun muttered without even sparing him a glance. "If you don't follow me, I'll throw you out."
Kyuhyun ceased his struggle, allowing Jonghyun to take him to the side hallway and into an empty room. "Wait here," Jonghyun said, motioning toward the several chairs available in the room. He himself remained standing by the door after he had left Zhou Mi a message, watching the boy fidget in silence.
It was really a coincidence that he happened to be the one on duty. If it had been anyone else, they would never have allowed Kyuhyun to step one foot into the place, what's with his rugged clothing and numerous scratches, bruises, and burn marks. Jonghyun couldn’t help but notice how skinny he was too, his sunken cheeks even more obvious under a pair of large, desperate eyes.
Zhou Mi, predictably enough, was far from impressed when he walked into the room a couple of hours later.
"Get out of here."
Kyuhyun stood up and fell onto his knees in front of Zhou Mi. "Please..."
"This isn't a shelter. I'm running a fucking business." He shot Jonghyun a glare, obviously expecting better from him than actually inviting Kyuhyun in.
Jonghyun didn't flinch.
"Then let me work for you."
"I have no use for the likes of you." Zhou Mi bent down and stared straight into Kyuhyun's eyes, unsympathetic and intimidating. "I pick my boys and I'm very selective."
Kyuhyun bit his lips and swallowed. "I will do anything."
"You want to work for me so much that you ran away from your master?" Taking in Kyuhyun's flinch, Zhou Mi narrowed his eyes. "I can tell the difference between a free person and a runaway slave. You think that you can protect yourself from him by working here. Well, I'm not interested in losing my client over someone like you-"
"I know that he is banned from your club," Kyuhyun suddenly spoke up. "I know that he's not even allowed to step out of the seventh colony anymore. I know that he no longer has enough power or money to look for me, a worthless, easily replaceable slave." He paused, as if waiting for a reaction. When Zhou Mi granted him none, he added, "I learned a lot of things. My escape wasn't a lucky break."
Zhou Mi looked at him for a long time. This time, Kyuhyun met his gaze head on and didn’t look away even for a moment.
"...How desperate are you, boy?"
"Very."
"You have nowhere else to go."
"No, I don't."
"Then let me tell you this.” Zhou Mi rose to his feet, his expression hard. “The violence, the brutal ways your master inflicted on you aren't unusual among my clients. What most of them desire is a good toy who in the end will say yes to anything they want. Will you say yes to anything they want?"
Kyuhyun didn't take long to answer. "Yes."
"Even if they will break you?"
"Then you will fix me," Kyuhyun said quickly. "Like with the pill you gave me back then."
"I will fix you only so they can break you again. You won't feel safe, you won't feel protected, and you won't feel loved."
There was a flicker of something different in Kyuhyun’s eyes for a moment, but once more it was quickly overwhelmed by desperation. "But they will want me."
A sneer curled Zhou Mi’s lips. “How would you know?”
“Because I will make them.” The answer came clearly, without doubt, a vow if he had ever heard one. “I swear I will.”
“Prove it.” Zhou Mi straightened his back after a brief pause. "You have three months. If you fail the evaluation, then you’ll get out of my sight. Do I make myself clear?"
The look on Kyuhyun's face was answer enough.
Jonghyun did not believe in fate.
Except when it came to one person. Kyuhyun barged into his life like a hurricane, turned it upside down, and etched himself so deep in Jonghyun’s heart that any hope of removal was virtually, if not completely, impossible.
Not that he had any idea of such an end in the beginning. It was part of Zhou Mi's revenge that he made the boy Jonghyun's sole responsibility. (You let him in; now you deal with him, were more or less his words.) Jonghyun soon found himself overseeing Kyuhyun's training despite never directly taking part in it, and before long, Kyuhyun already took so much space in his day-to-day happening that he inevitably became an integral part of Jonghyun’s life.
But it wasn't until Kyuhyun's second year as a host that Jonghyun realized that he cared-cared so much that he was afraid. He wasn’t a violent man by nature, but when he walked into a hotel room and found Kyuhyun on the bed with red slashes on the inside of his thighs, still dripping blood onto the crumpled white sheet, Jonghyun realized that he wanted to murder someone.
“Can you help me?”
To this day, he still remembers the sound of Kyuhyun’s voice back then. It was bleak, hollow, utterly devoid of any emotion which made a voice a voice. Jonghyun noticed his hand shaking when he removed the bloodied knife from where it lay between Kyuhyun’s legs. It was not difficult to imagine what had happened.
And then he saw the belt. Kyuhyun’s belt. The one that would have immediately summoned Jonghyun into the room with only one press to the buckle, lying on a pillow-completely within reach.
A second wave of overwhelming anger surged inside him. Jonghyun suppressed it just as he always had, focusing instead on trying to lift Kyuhyun into his arms without agitating his wounds too much. Kyuhyun never made a sound. He stubbornly stared up at the ceiling as Jonghyun carried him to the nearest teleport
All the way, Kyuhyun only treated him with silence. Jonghyun responded in kind-and maybe he was also partly relieved, for he had no word to give to a person who was determined to sell himself to the highest bidder at whatever cost. This was the sort of silence-meet-silence relationship they continued to maintain throughout the years as he watched how a scrawny boy with little charm and a broken heart turned into one of the most desirable men in this side of the galaxy.
Jonghyun never considered the word love. Love was the beautiful, short-lived blossom Kyuhyun had crushed under his heels when he had chosen to deny himself the luxury of falling in love with Shim Changmin. What they had was not love-and yet, for him, it was enough.
Until Choi Siwon.
In the beginning, he had only been one of the masses. Many men chased Kyuhyun with the same desperate obsession, which only served to make them look pathetic. Kyuhyun would lead them on a merry dance until he found their purpose exhausted or they finally gave up and settled for an easier choice. 'Twas ever thus.
Choi Siwon, however, soon proved himself to be an exception to the rule. Not only that he climbed so quickly in the hierarchy that made their world, he also turned out to be so bad at giving up that no matter what Kyuhyun threw at his direction, he simply would never stop. It was this single-minded tenacity that set him apart from the rest of the crowd, but even that wouldn’t have mattered much if Kyuhyun had ignored him.
Kyuhyun had not. And Jonghyun knew exactly what Choi Siwon was when Kyuhyun refused to stop humoring him.
“He’s going to be your downfall.”
Kyuhyun remained silent in his sleep. Jonghyun sighed, wishing that he had the courage to say it when the other man was awake, and left the room.
End