Parallels
title:parallels
rating:r
pairing: baekhyun/chanyeol
length: around 1100
warnings:mentions of abuse, violence, blood, character death, angsty af
summery: on a quiet summer evening, a boy too tall and a boy too pretty meet for the first and last time
a/n poorly written and unbetaed word vomit. it's currently 1:30am and ive had this in my head since i went to work this morning. twelve receipts of nonsense and a dead phone battery finds us here. also, i listened to 화양연화 by suga (bts) on repeat for a good three hours, which was the birth of this fic. tinkzoned please think of this as the fic i never rewrote for you T-T im sorry if this doesnt make sense. i really tried to make this sound better then it did.
On a quiet summer evening, when the sun is hot and tired from the long day, a tall boy walks through the alley next to his house, dribbling a ball beside him and matching his steps to the metronome of its sound.
On a quiet summer evening, when the sun is hot and tired from the long day, a boy slight of stature stumbles from his front door to escape the booming voice of his drunken father, screaming at him from the frame of the door.
In a small convenience store on the corner of the block, the tall boy grabbed two bottles of a coldred sports drink and a bag of chips, knowing eating too much would spoil the dinner his mom had undoubtedly made for him, and placed two bills on the counter while telling the female attendant to keep the change with a wink and a smile and walked out of the store.
In a small convenience store on the corner of the block, the small boy grabbed a cold bottle of water from therefrigerator, partly for his thirst and partly for the black eye that was sure to be forming by now. Realizing his wallet was in his backpack on the empty kitchen counter, he turned to walk out when the girl pulled a crinkled bill from her pocket and handed him the bottle. He didn't say anything and she didn't ask as he left the artificially lit shop.
In the park about three blocks from the bright corner shop, the empty basketball court was quiet and serene as the boy tossed the mostly empty gym bag across one of the metal bleachers and pulled a shiny ipod from the front pocket. A playlist of loud unintelligible lyrics andrappers angry at the world was the soundtrack of his night, using the drive of the ball as a way to forget the harsh words of a coach that expected too much of a boy that couldn't deliver enough, every frustration seemingly disappearing as his breaths became heaves and his muscles ached in the best ways and the world became okay once again.
In the park about three blocks from the bright corner shop, the playground was quiet, save for the laughs of the childrenrolling down the small hills at the edge of the grass. The screams of his father echoing through his head and the faint squeak of the swing he sat on became his soundtrack as he let the tears he had held in fall down his face. His heart pounded loudly in his ears, but not loud enough to drown out the words thatreplayed again and again, his breathing coming to the edge of hyperventilation and the ache for a normal life weighing on him so completely as he wondered if any of this life wasreally worth it.
As the evening became the night and the birds passed their songs to the crickets, the tall boy placed the ball on the ground beneath his foot and pulled his phone from his back pocket, dialing his mother and let her know he was heading home, a subtlereminder that he would be very hungry when he entered the house. She laughed at what had become hisroutine and told him she loved him and to be safe as he walked alone that night. Placing the phone with his music, he slung the bag across his back and picked up the ball again as he matched therhythm once again.
As the evening became the night and the birds passed their songs to the crickets, the small boy placed his bottle on the ground and positioned his foot above the neck, stepping with his full weight and watching the water splash and flood across the pavement below his feet, the edges of his shoes wet from the sudden outbreak. He dialed the number of the only friend he truly had, only to beredirected to the voicemail, and hung up before the beep could sound in his ear. He would need to leave the now empty park at some point, so he calmed his breathing and stood, walking in the direction of his friend’s apartment and hoped that the mattress he had offered the previous times was still available.
At the intersection dividing the busy downtown of the overcrowded city, the tall boy pulled his phone out once again to distract himself with whatever he stumbled across as he waited on the street corner for the signal to cross, the bustle of the cars becoming background noise to his thoughts.
At the intersection dividing the busy downtown of the overcrowded city, the small boy wrapped his arms around himself as a shield from the slight chill in the air as he crossed the street when the cars parted, his head turned down as he forced his legs to move just one more foot, just one more step, just one more inch.
A screech of tires and a sickening thump pulled attention from the screen in his hand and to the edge of the street to hisright.
A screech of tires pulled his attention away from his feet for a split second before he felt the impact and his body fly through the air before landing hard on the street.
A crowd moved to surround the car and a few screams of a person bleeding in the street made the tall boyrush to the scene of the accident.
A crowd moved to surround the car and he heard someone scream that someone was bleeding in the street, but his body was numb and he felt as though he was still in the air.
The tall boy pushed through the crowd to see a small boy, his head turned in his direction as he stared just past him, the small pool of blood beneath his head growing slowly.
The small boy in the street looked to his left, hoping to find a small bit of beauty, of joy, of love before his eyes closed for the last time. He knew he had only moments left.
As his eyes met with the boy on the ground, a small smile turning the corner of the boys mouth, the basketball fell from his hands into the gutter of the dirty street all but forgotten, and he felt a chill of fear and a deep sadness he had never felt before, watching the light fade from the boys eyes and his chest fall a final time.
As his eyes met with a tall boy standing at the side of theroad, he found a small bit of beauty in a terrible, ugly world and a feeling of peace fell over him as his mouth formed a slight smile and he felt his chest fall for the final time, his world turning dark and empty before filling once again with bright white light.