Drabble Dump 2
Title: Too Little, Too Late
Paring: Taoris
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1528
Summary: Kris knows it's just a little too little. Tao knows that it's just a little too late.
Tao doesn't realize it at first, but he and Kris are drifting away. At first, it's the small things. The way Kris refuses to do the dishes, the way he leaves his pants draped over the kitchen chair, the way he sometimes answers Tao's questions with a curt answer that plainly screams 'I don't want to talk right now', the way that Kris takes, takes, takes and never gives back. Then it's the larger things, the way Kris comes home some Fridays smelling of alcohol and drenched in rank perfume, the way Kris' eyes stray when they're on their dates, the way that he brushes Tao off when he want to curl up next to the elder and sleep.
He comes to this realization after they've had a screaming match about Tao fucking up the laundry and now all of Kris' white dress shirts are tinged pink from one of Tao's red socks.
Kris has stormed off to probably go get drunk and Tao collapses onto the wall, exhaustion suddenly crashing down on him all in one go. He sags and slowly slides to the floor. He briefly wonders if it was something wrong with him, but the shakes away the thought with a determined 'it's Kris' fault'.
안을까 말까The Chinese boy thinks about the straw breaking the proverbial camel's back and figures that he's had enough. For the best or worse, it's time for Kris and Tao to go their separate ways.
☆
Tao hears the door slam and a slurred “I'm home” echos through the apartment and his toes curl in disgust. He feigns sleep as Kris stumbles into the bedroom, filling the room with the smell of whiskey and sweat. He feels the bed creak on one side and a soft “I'm sorry” is whispered into the dark bedroom and his poor, battered heart gives a squeeze.
Kris falls into the sheet and moments later a snore is heard. Tao lays there with his eyes open and his back to his lover and the decision to break up becomes just a bit harder.
☆
“I think that we need to break up.”
Tao's mouth drops open and he flounders for a second. “Excuse me?” he stutters out in shock.
Kris scratches the back of his neck, his nervous tick. “I, uh, think that we're better not together?” The end of the sentence goes up like a question.
Snap.
Tao hears his camel back crack.
The shorter snaps his mouth shut with a clack and he turns a hard glare at the elder. “No.”
Clearly, this is not the answer that Kris was hoping for. “Wha- ”
“Fuck you, Kris. No, you're not breaking up with me. I'm fucking breaking up with your sorry ass. I've done nothing but be the best boyfriend I could be and you're out getting piss drunk every Friday and doing god knows what. You know what, I bet you have a fuck toy on the side. I wouldn't be surprised. You come home some Saturdays smelling like Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio and don't you think I didn't notice. And close your mouth, you're not saying a word until I finish,” Tao snaps and his face turns an angry red and Kris just scowls, but does what Tao said, closing his mouth.
“I want you out of this apartment by tomorrow night and yes, I'm keeping this apartment because I know you can go crash on that toy of yours' house until you get your own place. I am sick and tired of your shit that I had to put up with for the last year, Kris and fuck me if I'm tolerating you for another day. Got it? I'm dumping your ass!” Tao nearly shrieks into the quiet restaurant and he feels all the other costumers staring at the couple. Of course the bitch would try to break up with him at nice restaurant when they haven't had a date together in god knows how long. Tao reaches into his wallet and pulls out a number of bills before dumping it onto the table. “That should cover the bill,” Tao hisses, “Consider it the last favor of mine.”
He sweeps out of the awkward atmosphere left at the restaurant and strides home with powerful steps that contradict with his trembling lower lips and the tears streaking down his face. He reaches the apartment and he grabs a duffel bag and a few essentials in an almost feverish state before nearly sprinting out of the complex. The last thing he wants to meet is Kris' face, but he sees no sign of his ex.
Tao reaches his car and throws his things in, sitting down in the driver's seat. He pauses thinking where he can go and reaches the conclusion of Luhan's apartment. He thinks the other Chinese wouldn't mind too much and Luhan's boyfriend, Minseok, would probably scalp Luhan if Luhan tried to shoo Tao away. He angrily wipes away his tears and starts the car.
☆
Luhan's eyes are full of shock at seeing a red eyed Tao standing at the foot of his door and a questioning "Who's at the door, Lulu?" jerks the answer of "Tao" out of him.
Minseok's brunet head pops over the shoulder of Luhan, the happy expression fading quickly as he takes in the rumpled Tao. He shoves Luhan out of the doorway with unexpected strength and wraps the 6 foot tall younger one into a warm embrace and he's pulled into the apartment. Tao imagines that he hears Luhan quietly close the door behind him and but all he really can hear are the comforting coos of Minseok as he alternates between 'poor baby, you did nothing wrong' and 'that bastard. I'll cut and quarter him by the balls for hurting my precious'. Tao is stuck between wanting to break down and sob again or chuckle amusingly at Minseok's soft threats that delineate quite vividly what he would do with Kris' left foot and certain bodily fluids across Kris' precious leather seats.
Tao feels a gentle hand at the small of his back at Luhan guides the two to the living room and onto the couch. When Tao hits the couch, he can no longer hold back the tears and he just bawls like a baby.
Luhan and Minseok sit through the whole thing, giving encouraging nods at the appropriate times, rubbing circles into his back as Tao cries himself out. He wails to no one in particular 'I DID MY BEST TO KEEP HIM HAPPY, THAT ASS HOLE' and 'whywhywhywhy. We were so in love. Where did we go wrong?' The couple hushes him quickly whenever he puts the blame on himself and they refuse to let him wallow too long in a puddle of self pity. Before too long, Tao's howls have quieted down to soft whimpers and there's a sad pile of crumpled tissues littered across Minseok and Luhan's coffee table, but they care not. Tao cries himself exhausted and he falls into a dreamless sleep on Minseok's lap with Luhan's hands stroking his hair.
☆
When Tao returns to his own apartment the night later, he finds all evidence of Kris, aside from a few photos and other couple memories, is wiped clean. A post it note is scrawled with Kris' atrocious handwriting. I'm sorry, it reads and Tao scoffs before chucking it into the trashcan.
He can't help himself and just stops to stare at the photographs of himself and Kris beaming happily scattered across the walls. There's one when Tao dragged Kris to a fair and there's a bit of oil on Kris' nose. Another of them sitting by a pond and there's a waving Minseok next to the couple who's occupied by who can throw the pebbles furtherest. He chokes and be quickly flips down and turns over the frames. He can't get himself to take them off the walls. Not yet, but he does need to move on. He grabs a box from their, no, his closet and grabs all the small trinkets they had spent months in little antique shops scrounging for to plop into the box.
The lithe leopard perched as though about to pounce. Plop. The sign that hangs over the bedroom door that says "Kris and Tao's sanctuary". Into the box. The oversized sweater that Tao liked to wear on cold days and snuggle up to Kris. Packed away.
Each thing that he shoves into the box makes the pain sharper and soon he's crying, hot tears that splash against his trembling hand. He has to stop too many times to crumple agaisnt the wall holding a sweater that smells too much like his ex and just sob. Once he feels like he's calm enough to continue with the packing, he sees another thing and is hit like a baseball bat with memories and the cycle repeats again and again.
When Tao is done with his purging, his apartment almost looks unrecognizable, nearly every home decoration taken down. It pangs him again and he grabs a sharpie to label the box "Never open again. Pandora's box".
The blue haired youth shoves the box as far into the closet as he can and slams the door shut as though to close the door on an old chapter of his life.
Title: Baby, Don't Cry
Paring: Sekai
Rating: PG
Word Count: 752
Summary: Give me chilling laughter instead of your hot tears.
Rain pours down and Sehun can't even tell whether the moisture streaming down his face was rain or tears. Sobs rack his body and his gaze searches the horizon again.
No. No. Nononono. He promised. Sehun remembers.
A hand gently caresses his cheek and there's a sad smile on the carelessly handsome face. "Sehun. 3 days. Within 3 days, if I'm not back," Jongin hesitates, before continuing, "If I'm not back in 3 days, then stop looking. Stop waiting."
Sehun sees the handsome face blur as he holds back hot tears. "Jongin-," he chokes, reaching up to hand Jongin's warm hand against his cheek.
Heavy words fill the silence air, but none of these words are spoken. No 'please stay with me', no 'please don't go', no 'please choose me' are spoken. They weigh heavily on the pair's minds but they are spoken through the searching gaze that trace faces as though memorizing the contours. Sehun lets the tears that he's been holding back slowly spill down his face silently. Jongin doesn't comment on Sehun's tears, but his thumbs slowly wipe across Sehun's cheeks.
"Please don't cry," Jongin whispers, a pained expression in his eyes. Sehun shakes his head as though denying the moisture that slides hotly down and Jongin just bites his lip.
"I'm sorry," he repeats and Sehun lifts a hand to silence the next words that were going to be uttered.
"Don't be." A choked voice comes out.
Silence befalls and they drink in each others presence like a thirsted man. And it's all they can afford with their meager allotments.
Sehun screams until his throat is raw. He screams Jongin's name. He screams at the injustice. He screams at the powers that keep the two lovers apart.
Jongin isn't here. Jongin cannot be here. Jongin will never be here, and Sehun knows in this the depths of his pained heart.
Jongin. Jongin. Jongin. Jongin. Jongin is his world.
There's a lot different between Sehun and Jongin. One is bronzed to perfection, the other a delicate milkly tone. One is smothering looks, the other almost perpetually bored glances. One is a merman, the other, a human.
But there's one thing similar between the two and it's their love.
Which was never meant to be.
Title: Pray
Paring: implied!Xiuhan, impliedbroken!Hunhan
Rating: PG
Word Count: 768
Summary: Sehun quietly begs to turn the clocks back.s.
I can't.
It's all Sehun hears from Luhan.
Cry for me a little
Not today.
It's always the same thing.
I'm sorry.
He doesn't even try to come up with new excuses.
Please don't be mad.
Sehun doesn't even know why or how they've come to this point.
Who else has been praying and dreaming about all the things that could have been done?
Tick. Tock.
The clock that sits high above the dining room tells Sehun the time loudly and he just sits, rigid as the candle slowly burns itself to a stump. No, he doesn't feel the pain the burrows into his chest. No, it went numb along time ago.
The food that sits on the porcelain plates goes cold and the room slowly goes dark. Before long, the streetlights turn outside and cast the room in a sickly, yellow glow.
Soon.
Sehun stiffly stands, feeling his body creak in protest from sitting in the same position for too long. The chair screeches loudly in the silent room as he pushes it back. He ignores the absence of pain in his chest as he grabs the plates off the able top and shoves them roughly into the cold air of the fridge. The saran wrap reflects the dim light of the fridge before Sehun lets the fridge door swing shut with a solid thud.
No, no, no, don't say those words of goodbye
He stands, disoriented in front of the constant hum of the fridge as though confused and lost. The swirl of emotions leave him frazzled and dazed but he feels his body move as though automatic. As though he's used to the sting of disappointment and empty promises.
I'll be home tonight, Sehun.
'Liar. No, you aren't,' Sehun thinks as he clears up the silverware spread out on the white tablecloth. 'It's all you tell me. Lies,' he swallows, dumping the utensils in the correct place and shutting the drawer with a loud, metallic clatter.
Minseok says that he'll be fine by himself today.
It's only false hope is what Luhan gives to Sehun. He grabs the candle holders and the puddle of wax that they hold and dumps the cold lump of wax into the trash, debating for a moment whether to just dump the whole thing, but something holds him back.
I'm trembling
The white tablecloth goes back into the linen closet, the nice china is washed in warm water and dried to be put back into their spots for the next disappointing appearance, the chairs tucked underneath the rarely used wooden table. It's like a routine that he's run through again and again It's funny how he seems to think each time that something's going to be different.
If this was someone else, he would have already placed him hand on their shoulder and told them it was time to move on. Yet, against his better judgment, he lingers. It's the little things that make him stay. Things like how Luhan's smallest smile throws a smile on Sehun's face for the rest of the day. The smallest brush of arms against each other, make his fingers ache to wrap themselves around always too warm hands.
Just like yesterday, show me your smile.
When he clicks the home button on his phone, the screen lights up and the all too familiar text pops up.
I'm sorry, Sehun. I can't make it home tonight. The nurse says that Minseok's on rocky grounds again.
He stares at the message for a long minute before the screen darkens and fades into darkness. His hands hang limply by his side, while months ago, they'd be on the cellphone, typing a message like 'it's ok. i understand. love you' when it's not really ok. It doesn't really matter anymore, does it.
Little by little, the things you lost are starting to cave in
The phone lies, neglected while he shuffles into the bedroom, too tired to go through the motions of washing up. Sehun slowly crawls onto the empty sheets and remembers of a time, long long ago where Luhan would have been right next to him as the pair would have collapsed onto the sheets giggling about silly anecdotes.
Once upon a time, Sehun was prioritized above Minseok. Once upon a time, Sehun loved Luhan with all his heart and the feelings were reciprocated. Once upon a time, Sehun didn't know the bitter taste of disappointment. Once upon a time, Luhan would have stayed with him.
Sehun. Please understand.
He used to. When Luhan loved Sehun instead of Minseok.
I'm sincerely praying.
(I'm also crying)
A/N: If you want backstory to this, it's that Luhan is married to Sehun, but Luhan's fallen in love with his terminally ill patient, Minseok. So, no one gets a happy ending.
Title: There's a She Wolf (In the Closet)
Paring: Baekyeol
Rating: PG
Word Count: 789
Summary: Everyone had a Shakira phase.
A/N: Pure wtf, I assure you. All event portrayed in here have occurred in real life with a few tweaks.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Chanyeol. This is the 100th time you've played this fucking song.”
A short silence followed this statement with Shakira seductively howling in the background. “It's actually-”
“I don't want to know the exact number, you dumb butt,” the snark interruption came.
Chanyeol twisted away from his computer to stare at the smaller brunet lazing on the bed, scrolling through what Chanyeol presumed Instagram or Tumblr. “You know, I haven't listened to this song that much, you know,” he tossed casually back to the male laying on his back.
Baekhyun paused in his finger swiping to cast a glance at the younger before snorting attractively and deadpanned, “You've been listening to She Wolf on repeat for the past 45 minutes.”
Chanyeol shrugged, “It's a good song.”
“Yeah, but that doesn't mean you need to listen to a song that came out like 5 years ago on repeat,” Beakhyun said before resuming his scrolling. There's an occasional double tap and yeah, the brunet’s on Instagram. Probably thinking about the next idea for his next selca, the narcissistic fool.
There's more She Wolf playing as Chanyeol turns back to the computer and continues typing out his rhetorical essay that's due tonight at midnight like the good student he's supposed to be. He's so into the essay that he doesn't notice someone creep up from behind him with intentions to slam the mouse on the damn repeat button so that another song- any song- besides She Wolf.
Chanyeol jolts in surprise as a voice growls next to his ear, “For the love of all things holy, Chanyeol,” and there's thin fingers that press on alt and tab and iTunes pop up.
“What the legit fuck, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says incredulously. The mentioned man doesn't actually say anything but he just shrugs, half embarassed. “Why have you listened to She Wolf 658 times. That's literally-” the man pauses ad pulls a face as though something small and furry were attacking him and continues, “33 hours of solid Shakira. How do you even have that much time.”
Chanyeol's ears are tipped pink and his voice is small as he replies, “I had a phase, ok.”
The elder just shakes his pretty head and mutters under his breath, “I wonder what are your top songs, anyway.” He clicks the little category above the numbers and Chanyeol's plays arrange themselves in order of most plays. She Wolf pops up in first place (unsurprisingly), Sweet Dreams comes in second with 235 plays, and ironically 3 by Brittney Spears is 3rd with 199 plays. “Holy shit,” Baekhyun eloquently says.
Chanyeol makes a noise resembling an elephant seal and a trumpet flailing, as he tries to get the smaller man who's dying from laughter away from the computer.
It's just cackling laughter from the brunet as he allows himself to be manhandled away from the computer because he's honestly too busy laughing. Chanyeol looks mildly annoyed, majorly embarrassed, and 50000% percent wants to dig himself into a hold and just die.
“Oh my god!” Baekhyun wheezes out after minutes of laughter, tears leaking out of the corner of his eyes. “She Wolf, Sweet Dreams, and 3, Chanyeol. 3. Oh my god, I can't even-” He cuts himself to resume more laughing and at this point Chanyeol considers throwing himself out the window. Even though they're on the second floor.
Baekhyun's still laughing.
Chanyeol glances outside the window and tries to gauge his projectory.
“Ok, ok, OK! I had a phase in high school, ok?!” Chanyeol tries and this only seems to set Baekhyun off even more as he goes into more convultions.
At this point, the 6 foot man is dangerously close to the window before Baekhyun attempts to get his breath back. “Ok-” gasp, “She Wolf is a really-” sucked in breath, “good song. I had-” oxygen in, “a phase with She Wolf-” breath to live, “but holy shit, 600 plays!”
Chanyeol opens the window.
☆
Chanyeol's scream could probably heard 3 blocks away as he opens up kakaotalk and shrieks a very girlish pitch.
'Kinky,' Jongin comments in their group chat. Jongdae's too busy sending laughing emojis and probably actually laughing in real life. 'Chanyeol, you may want to reconsider your music choices,' Kyungsoo sends in response to Baekhyun's photo of Chanyeol's iTunes list, showing the song and the play number very clearly.
Chanyeol knows that his friends will never let this up for at least 3 weeks.
“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol screams at the world.
“There's a she wolf in the closet~ Let it out so it can breathe~” Shakira sings in the background of Chanyeol's despair.
Title: Hold Me a Little Closer
Paring: Xiusoo
Rating: PG
Word Count: 960
Summary: There's a few benefits of having a roommate.
A/N: The feels, man. Twice the squishy. I'm so sorry if this is gibbering, I'm really tired and I should be finishing a proj but xiusoo doe.
Minseok let his head fall to the table, making a solid thump against his very solid psychology textbook. He could hear his roommate look up from his own sheaf of notes and all Minseok wanted was his (5th) large coffee and a good night's sleep, but with finals hovering over his ass, he honestly couldn't grab more than 3 hours. On a good night.
This is what he paid 50 thousand a semester, slaved through high school, and spent weeks revising the same essay for. College. He felt like crying. But there was Kyungsoo in the room so he settled for groaning to the words that were blurring in front of him.
The senior was kind of regretting it, pushing the class that was normally taken in freshman year all the way to his last year, but when he was a fishie, nothing was more important to him than the sound of freedom and how many parties he could get to before his GPA took a nosedive. Now 3 years wiser (4 parties a week was him limit) and heavily in student debt, he was now beating his brain over this damn.class. Which the exam for it was in, according to around Minseok's 3rd cup of coffee, in 8 hours.
"You ok, there?" the soft voice of Kyungsoo brought Minseok out of his uncharacteristic pity party.
The older of the two turned his head (normally, he would be cringing at the sound of paper wrinkling, but at this point he almost took a sense of sick pleasure at the sound) and fixed Kyungsoo with his best deadpan look of 'do I fucking look ok'. Which was kind of difficult since the man getting the look kept going in and out of focus.
Kyungsoo shook his head and muttered more to himself than his half dead roommate, "Oh man, you got it baaad."
All Minseok could do was squint at his tiny roommate at an attempt to make the 3 visions of Kyungsoo meld into one. "'M okay."
Honestly, Kyungsoo's busy fighting his own battles over his fatass statistics 102 notes and he doesn't look any better than Minseok feels with his hair stuck in about 5 different directions and heavy eye bags. The 3 visions of Kyungsoo stand up together and shuffle out of their room, a sheet of notes sticking out the elastic band of their pj bottoms and made the drowsy senior smile at the silly sight.
Minseok had about the brain capacity to ponder what Kyungsoo was going to do for about 5 seconds before it made an alarming screeching sound and ground to a stop. His brain decides to think about more simple details. There were ink stains all on his palm. There are 3 pens lying defeated around his desk. And there's a cup with a dark ring of coffee remnants.
It wasn't until a mug was set in front of his face that Minseok was reminded that his roommate indeed leave the room and he blinked slowly at the ceramic. "Wham?" he garbled.
Kyungsoo took his hands and wrapped them around the steaming mug and simply replied, "Green tea." When Minseok get continued to lie there like a broken puppet Kyungsoo added, "For fatigue."
Minseok really did try. He really did try to make the corners of his mouth curl up in the semblance of a smile, but he probably looked more like the Joker than a grateful roommate. But Kyungsoo's been the senior's roommate for long enough to get the message, so he good naturely shakes his head and begins to maneuver Minseok's very floppy body into a relative sitting up position and hand the drink to him.
With an embarrassingly large amount of willpower, the tired man brings the mug up to his lips and takes a small sip to avoid burning his tongue. Even after a tiny sip, he feels the warm liquid begin to work its magic on him and he hums appreciatively to his roommate. There's a small smile on Kyungsoo's equally tired face, so Minseok sets the cup down before gesturing to the sophomore.
Kyungsoo raises his brow but at Minseok's insistent come hither movement he leans in closer. Minseok turns, places his hands on both sides of Kyungsoo's face and plants a soft, grateful kiss on his lips.
The other college boy swallows his squeak that Minseok just finds adorable and a faint pink feathers across his cheeks (which are getting alarmingly sunken in from the exhaustion of finals week) and he's visibly flustered. "W-what's that for?" he stammers but makes no movement to draw away.
Minseok pulls his roommate a little closer until their noses are touching and even though he can see the fatigue etched in the lines of Kyungsoo's eyes and dark circles, he just smiles, "Just thank you."
Staring into Minseok's probably a bit unfocused eyes, Kyungsoo eventually bumps his head to Minseok, "Silly."
When the smaller draws away, Minseok makes a little noise in protest and his roommate just rolls his eyes at the elder. "You're done. Finish that tea and get some sleep."
Under Kyungsoo's watchful eye, he sips the rest of his warm beverage and (he whines at Kyungsoo to help him up, but the other whacks him on the head and orders him to get there himself) makes his way over to his bed before beginnig to tip over onto the comforter, honestly too tired to pull the blankets back.
Before he lets gravity do the work, Minseok pulls the Kyungsoo down with him and they both tumble over Minseok's too small bed. Kyungsoo falls onto Minseok with an oof! and when Kyungsoo draws back with an affronted look, Minseok pulls him back with a quiet, "Go to sleep. You're just as tired as me." Neither can really care about the lights left on and they fall asleep, lulled by each other's evening breathing and the persistent tug of sleep. There's a few benefits of your boyfriend being your roommate.
Paring: Taoris
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1528
Summary: Kris knows it's just a little too little. Tao knows that it's just a little too late.
Tao doesn't realize it at first, but he and Kris are drifting away. At first, it's the small things. The way Kris refuses to do the dishes, the way he leaves his pants draped over the kitchen chair, the way he sometimes answers Tao's questions with a curt answer that plainly screams 'I don't want to talk right now', the way that Kris takes, takes, takes and never gives back. Then it's the larger things, the way Kris comes home some Fridays smelling of alcohol and drenched in rank perfume, the way Kris' eyes stray when they're on their dates, the way that he brushes Tao off when he want to curl up next to the elder and sleep.
He comes to this realization after they've had a screaming match about Tao fucking up the laundry and now all of Kris' white dress shirts are tinged pink from one of Tao's red socks.
Kris has stormed off to probably go get drunk and Tao collapses onto the wall, exhaustion suddenly crashing down on him all in one go. He sags and slowly slides to the floor. He briefly wonders if it was something wrong with him, but the shakes away the thought with a determined 'it's Kris' fault'.
안을까 말까The Chinese boy thinks about the straw breaking the proverbial camel's back and figures that he's had enough. For the best or worse, it's time for Kris and Tao to go their separate ways.
☆
Tao hears the door slam and a slurred “I'm home” echos through the apartment and his toes curl in disgust. He feigns sleep as Kris stumbles into the bedroom, filling the room with the smell of whiskey and sweat. He feels the bed creak on one side and a soft “I'm sorry” is whispered into the dark bedroom and his poor, battered heart gives a squeeze.
Kris falls into the sheet and moments later a snore is heard. Tao lays there with his eyes open and his back to his lover and the decision to break up becomes just a bit harder.
☆
“I think that we need to break up.”
Tao's mouth drops open and he flounders for a second. “Excuse me?” he stutters out in shock.
Kris scratches the back of his neck, his nervous tick. “I, uh, think that we're better not together?” The end of the sentence goes up like a question.
Snap.
Tao hears his camel back crack.
The shorter snaps his mouth shut with a clack and he turns a hard glare at the elder. “No.”
Clearly, this is not the answer that Kris was hoping for. “Wha- ”
“Fuck you, Kris. No, you're not breaking up with me. I'm fucking breaking up with your sorry ass. I've done nothing but be the best boyfriend I could be and you're out getting piss drunk every Friday and doing god knows what. You know what, I bet you have a fuck toy on the side. I wouldn't be surprised. You come home some Saturdays smelling like Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio and don't you think I didn't notice. And close your mouth, you're not saying a word until I finish,” Tao snaps and his face turns an angry red and Kris just scowls, but does what Tao said, closing his mouth.
“I want you out of this apartment by tomorrow night and yes, I'm keeping this apartment because I know you can go crash on that toy of yours' house until you get your own place. I am sick and tired of your shit that I had to put up with for the last year, Kris and fuck me if I'm tolerating you for another day. Got it? I'm dumping your ass!” Tao nearly shrieks into the quiet restaurant and he feels all the other costumers staring at the couple. Of course the bitch would try to break up with him at nice restaurant when they haven't had a date together in god knows how long. Tao reaches into his wallet and pulls out a number of bills before dumping it onto the table. “That should cover the bill,” Tao hisses, “Consider it the last favor of mine.”
He sweeps out of the awkward atmosphere left at the restaurant and strides home with powerful steps that contradict with his trembling lower lips and the tears streaking down his face. He reaches the apartment and he grabs a duffel bag and a few essentials in an almost feverish state before nearly sprinting out of the complex. The last thing he wants to meet is Kris' face, but he sees no sign of his ex.
Tao reaches his car and throws his things in, sitting down in the driver's seat. He pauses thinking where he can go and reaches the conclusion of Luhan's apartment. He thinks the other Chinese wouldn't mind too much and Luhan's boyfriend, Minseok, would probably scalp Luhan if Luhan tried to shoo Tao away. He angrily wipes away his tears and starts the car.
☆
Luhan's eyes are full of shock at seeing a red eyed Tao standing at the foot of his door and a questioning "Who's at the door, Lulu?" jerks the answer of "Tao" out of him.
Minseok's brunet head pops over the shoulder of Luhan, the happy expression fading quickly as he takes in the rumpled Tao. He shoves Luhan out of the doorway with unexpected strength and wraps the 6 foot tall younger one into a warm embrace and he's pulled into the apartment. Tao imagines that he hears Luhan quietly close the door behind him and but all he really can hear are the comforting coos of Minseok as he alternates between 'poor baby, you did nothing wrong' and 'that bastard. I'll cut and quarter him by the balls for hurting my precious'. Tao is stuck between wanting to break down and sob again or chuckle amusingly at Minseok's soft threats that delineate quite vividly what he would do with Kris' left foot and certain bodily fluids across Kris' precious leather seats.
Tao feels a gentle hand at the small of his back at Luhan guides the two to the living room and onto the couch. When Tao hits the couch, he can no longer hold back the tears and he just bawls like a baby.
Luhan and Minseok sit through the whole thing, giving encouraging nods at the appropriate times, rubbing circles into his back as Tao cries himself out. He wails to no one in particular 'I DID MY BEST TO KEEP HIM HAPPY, THAT ASS HOLE' and 'whywhywhywhy. We were so in love. Where did we go wrong?' The couple hushes him quickly whenever he puts the blame on himself and they refuse to let him wallow too long in a puddle of self pity. Before too long, Tao's howls have quieted down to soft whimpers and there's a sad pile of crumpled tissues littered across Minseok and Luhan's coffee table, but they care not. Tao cries himself exhausted and he falls into a dreamless sleep on Minseok's lap with Luhan's hands stroking his hair.
☆
When Tao returns to his own apartment the night later, he finds all evidence of Kris, aside from a few photos and other couple memories, is wiped clean. A post it note is scrawled with Kris' atrocious handwriting. I'm sorry, it reads and Tao scoffs before chucking it into the trashcan.
He can't help himself and just stops to stare at the photographs of himself and Kris beaming happily scattered across the walls. There's one when Tao dragged Kris to a fair and there's a bit of oil on Kris' nose. Another of them sitting by a pond and there's a waving Minseok next to the couple who's occupied by who can throw the pebbles furtherest. He chokes and be quickly flips down and turns over the frames. He can't get himself to take them off the walls. Not yet, but he does need to move on. He grabs a box from their, no, his closet and grabs all the small trinkets they had spent months in little antique shops scrounging for to plop into the box.
The lithe leopard perched as though about to pounce. Plop. The sign that hangs over the bedroom door that says "Kris and Tao's sanctuary". Into the box. The oversized sweater that Tao liked to wear on cold days and snuggle up to Kris. Packed away.
Each thing that he shoves into the box makes the pain sharper and soon he's crying, hot tears that splash against his trembling hand. He has to stop too many times to crumple agaisnt the wall holding a sweater that smells too much like his ex and just sob. Once he feels like he's calm enough to continue with the packing, he sees another thing and is hit like a baseball bat with memories and the cycle repeats again and again.
When Tao is done with his purging, his apartment almost looks unrecognizable, nearly every home decoration taken down. It pangs him again and he grabs a sharpie to label the box "Never open again. Pandora's box".
The blue haired youth shoves the box as far into the closet as he can and slams the door shut as though to close the door on an old chapter of his life.
Title: Baby, Don't Cry
Paring: Sekai
Rating: PG
Word Count: 752
Summary: Give me chilling laughter instead of your hot tears.
Rain pours down and Sehun can't even tell whether the moisture streaming down his face was rain or tears. Sobs rack his body and his gaze searches the horizon again.
No. No. Nononono. He promised. Sehun remembers.
A hand gently caresses his cheek and there's a sad smile on the carelessly handsome face. "Sehun. 3 days. Within 3 days, if I'm not back," Jongin hesitates, before continuing, "If I'm not back in 3 days, then stop looking. Stop waiting."
Sehun sees the handsome face blur as he holds back hot tears. "Jongin-," he chokes, reaching up to hand Jongin's warm hand against his cheek.
Heavy words fill the silence air, but none of these words are spoken. No 'please stay with me', no 'please don't go', no 'please choose me' are spoken. They weigh heavily on the pair's minds but they are spoken through the searching gaze that trace faces as though memorizing the contours. Sehun lets the tears that he's been holding back slowly spill down his face silently. Jongin doesn't comment on Sehun's tears, but his thumbs slowly wipe across Sehun's cheeks.
"Please don't cry," Jongin whispers, a pained expression in his eyes. Sehun shakes his head as though denying the moisture that slides hotly down and Jongin just bites his lip.
"I'm sorry," he repeats and Sehun lifts a hand to silence the next words that were going to be uttered.
"Don't be." A choked voice comes out.
Silence befalls and they drink in each others presence like a thirsted man. And it's all they can afford with their meager allotments.
Sehun screams until his throat is raw. He screams Jongin's name. He screams at the injustice. He screams at the powers that keep the two lovers apart.
Jongin isn't here. Jongin cannot be here. Jongin will never be here, and Sehun knows in this the depths of his pained heart.
Jongin. Jongin. Jongin. Jongin. Jongin is his world.
There's a lot different between Sehun and Jongin. One is bronzed to perfection, the other a delicate milkly tone. One is smothering looks, the other almost perpetually bored glances. One is a merman, the other, a human.
But there's one thing similar between the two and it's their love.
Which was never meant to be.
Title: Pray
Paring: implied!Xiuhan, impliedbroken!Hunhan
Rating: PG
Word Count: 768
Summary: Sehun quietly begs to turn the clocks back.s.
I can't.
It's all Sehun hears from Luhan.
Cry for me a little
Not today.
It's always the same thing.
I'm sorry.
He doesn't even try to come up with new excuses.
Please don't be mad.
Sehun doesn't even know why or how they've come to this point.
Who else has been praying and dreaming about all the things that could have been done?
Tick. Tock.
The clock that sits high above the dining room tells Sehun the time loudly and he just sits, rigid as the candle slowly burns itself to a stump. No, he doesn't feel the pain the burrows into his chest. No, it went numb along time ago.
The food that sits on the porcelain plates goes cold and the room slowly goes dark. Before long, the streetlights turn outside and cast the room in a sickly, yellow glow.
Soon.
Sehun stiffly stands, feeling his body creak in protest from sitting in the same position for too long. The chair screeches loudly in the silent room as he pushes it back. He ignores the absence of pain in his chest as he grabs the plates off the able top and shoves them roughly into the cold air of the fridge. The saran wrap reflects the dim light of the fridge before Sehun lets the fridge door swing shut with a solid thud.
No, no, no, don't say those words of goodbye
He stands, disoriented in front of the constant hum of the fridge as though confused and lost. The swirl of emotions leave him frazzled and dazed but he feels his body move as though automatic. As though he's used to the sting of disappointment and empty promises.
I'll be home tonight, Sehun.
'Liar. No, you aren't,' Sehun thinks as he clears up the silverware spread out on the white tablecloth. 'It's all you tell me. Lies,' he swallows, dumping the utensils in the correct place and shutting the drawer with a loud, metallic clatter.
Minseok says that he'll be fine by himself today.
It's only false hope is what Luhan gives to Sehun. He grabs the candle holders and the puddle of wax that they hold and dumps the cold lump of wax into the trash, debating for a moment whether to just dump the whole thing, but something holds him back.
I'm trembling
The white tablecloth goes back into the linen closet, the nice china is washed in warm water and dried to be put back into their spots for the next disappointing appearance, the chairs tucked underneath the rarely used wooden table. It's like a routine that he's run through again and again It's funny how he seems to think each time that something's going to be different.
If this was someone else, he would have already placed him hand on their shoulder and told them it was time to move on. Yet, against his better judgment, he lingers. It's the little things that make him stay. Things like how Luhan's smallest smile throws a smile on Sehun's face for the rest of the day. The smallest brush of arms against each other, make his fingers ache to wrap themselves around always too warm hands.
Just like yesterday, show me your smile.
When he clicks the home button on his phone, the screen lights up and the all too familiar text pops up.
I'm sorry, Sehun. I can't make it home tonight. The nurse says that Minseok's on rocky grounds again.
He stares at the message for a long minute before the screen darkens and fades into darkness. His hands hang limply by his side, while months ago, they'd be on the cellphone, typing a message like 'it's ok. i understand. love you' when it's not really ok. It doesn't really matter anymore, does it.
Little by little, the things you lost are starting to cave in
The phone lies, neglected while he shuffles into the bedroom, too tired to go through the motions of washing up. Sehun slowly crawls onto the empty sheets and remembers of a time, long long ago where Luhan would have been right next to him as the pair would have collapsed onto the sheets giggling about silly anecdotes.
Once upon a time, Sehun was prioritized above Minseok. Once upon a time, Sehun loved Luhan with all his heart and the feelings were reciprocated. Once upon a time, Sehun didn't know the bitter taste of disappointment. Once upon a time, Luhan would have stayed with him.
Sehun. Please understand.
He used to. When Luhan loved Sehun instead of Minseok.
I'm sincerely praying.
(I'm also crying)
A/N: If you want backstory to this, it's that Luhan is married to Sehun, but Luhan's fallen in love with his terminally ill patient, Minseok. So, no one gets a happy ending.
Title: There's a She Wolf (In the Closet)
Paring: Baekyeol
Rating: PG
Word Count: 789
Summary: Everyone had a Shakira phase.
A/N: Pure wtf, I assure you. All event portrayed in here have occurred in real life with a few tweaks.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Chanyeol. This is the 100th time you've played this fucking song.”
A short silence followed this statement with Shakira seductively howling in the background. “It's actually-”
“I don't want to know the exact number, you dumb butt,” the snark interruption came.
Chanyeol twisted away from his computer to stare at the smaller brunet lazing on the bed, scrolling through what Chanyeol presumed Instagram or Tumblr. “You know, I haven't listened to this song that much, you know,” he tossed casually back to the male laying on his back.
Baekhyun paused in his finger swiping to cast a glance at the younger before snorting attractively and deadpanned, “You've been listening to She Wolf on repeat for the past 45 minutes.”
Chanyeol shrugged, “It's a good song.”
“Yeah, but that doesn't mean you need to listen to a song that came out like 5 years ago on repeat,” Beakhyun said before resuming his scrolling. There's an occasional double tap and yeah, the brunet’s on Instagram. Probably thinking about the next idea for his next selca, the narcissistic fool.
There's more She Wolf playing as Chanyeol turns back to the computer and continues typing out his rhetorical essay that's due tonight at midnight like the good student he's supposed to be. He's so into the essay that he doesn't notice someone creep up from behind him with intentions to slam the mouse on the damn repeat button so that another song- any song- besides She Wolf.
Chanyeol jolts in surprise as a voice growls next to his ear, “For the love of all things holy, Chanyeol,” and there's thin fingers that press on alt and tab and iTunes pop up.
“What the legit fuck, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says incredulously. The mentioned man doesn't actually say anything but he just shrugs, half embarassed. “Why have you listened to She Wolf 658 times. That's literally-” the man pauses ad pulls a face as though something small and furry were attacking him and continues, “33 hours of solid Shakira. How do you even have that much time.”
Chanyeol's ears are tipped pink and his voice is small as he replies, “I had a phase, ok.”
The elder just shakes his pretty head and mutters under his breath, “I wonder what are your top songs, anyway.” He clicks the little category above the numbers and Chanyeol's plays arrange themselves in order of most plays. She Wolf pops up in first place (unsurprisingly), Sweet Dreams comes in second with 235 plays, and ironically 3 by Brittney Spears is 3rd with 199 plays. “Holy shit,” Baekhyun eloquently says.
Chanyeol makes a noise resembling an elephant seal and a trumpet flailing, as he tries to get the smaller man who's dying from laughter away from the computer.
It's just cackling laughter from the brunet as he allows himself to be manhandled away from the computer because he's honestly too busy laughing. Chanyeol looks mildly annoyed, majorly embarrassed, and 50000% percent wants to dig himself into a hold and just die.
“Oh my god!” Baekhyun wheezes out after minutes of laughter, tears leaking out of the corner of his eyes. “She Wolf, Sweet Dreams, and 3, Chanyeol. 3. Oh my god, I can't even-” He cuts himself to resume more laughing and at this point Chanyeol considers throwing himself out the window. Even though they're on the second floor.
Baekhyun's still laughing.
Chanyeol glances outside the window and tries to gauge his projectory.
“Ok, ok, OK! I had a phase in high school, ok?!” Chanyeol tries and this only seems to set Baekhyun off even more as he goes into more convultions.
At this point, the 6 foot man is dangerously close to the window before Baekhyun attempts to get his breath back. “Ok-” gasp, “She Wolf is a really-” sucked in breath, “good song. I had-” oxygen in, “a phase with She Wolf-” breath to live, “but holy shit, 600 plays!”
Chanyeol opens the window.
☆
Chanyeol's scream could probably heard 3 blocks away as he opens up kakaotalk and shrieks a very girlish pitch.
'Kinky,' Jongin comments in their group chat. Jongdae's too busy sending laughing emojis and probably actually laughing in real life. 'Chanyeol, you may want to reconsider your music choices,' Kyungsoo sends in response to Baekhyun's photo of Chanyeol's iTunes list, showing the song and the play number very clearly.
Chanyeol knows that his friends will never let this up for at least 3 weeks.
“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol screams at the world.
“There's a she wolf in the closet~ Let it out so it can breathe~” Shakira sings in the background of Chanyeol's despair.
Title: Hold Me a Little Closer
Paring: Xiusoo
Rating: PG
Word Count: 960
Summary: There's a few benefits of having a roommate.
A/N: The feels, man. Twice the squishy. I'm so sorry if this is gibbering, I'm really tired and I should be finishing a proj but xiusoo doe.
Minseok let his head fall to the table, making a solid thump against his very solid psychology textbook. He could hear his roommate look up from his own sheaf of notes and all Minseok wanted was his (5th) large coffee and a good night's sleep, but with finals hovering over his ass, he honestly couldn't grab more than 3 hours. On a good night.
This is what he paid 50 thousand a semester, slaved through high school, and spent weeks revising the same essay for. College. He felt like crying. But there was Kyungsoo in the room so he settled for groaning to the words that were blurring in front of him.
The senior was kind of regretting it, pushing the class that was normally taken in freshman year all the way to his last year, but when he was a fishie, nothing was more important to him than the sound of freedom and how many parties he could get to before his GPA took a nosedive. Now 3 years wiser (4 parties a week was him limit) and heavily in student debt, he was now beating his brain over this damn.class. Which the exam for it was in, according to around Minseok's 3rd cup of coffee, in 8 hours.
"You ok, there?" the soft voice of Kyungsoo brought Minseok out of his uncharacteristic pity party.
The older of the two turned his head (normally, he would be cringing at the sound of paper wrinkling, but at this point he almost took a sense of sick pleasure at the sound) and fixed Kyungsoo with his best deadpan look of 'do I fucking look ok'. Which was kind of difficult since the man getting the look kept going in and out of focus.
Kyungsoo shook his head and muttered more to himself than his half dead roommate, "Oh man, you got it baaad."
All Minseok could do was squint at his tiny roommate at an attempt to make the 3 visions of Kyungsoo meld into one. "'M okay."
Honestly, Kyungsoo's busy fighting his own battles over his fatass statistics 102 notes and he doesn't look any better than Minseok feels with his hair stuck in about 5 different directions and heavy eye bags. The 3 visions of Kyungsoo stand up together and shuffle out of their room, a sheet of notes sticking out the elastic band of their pj bottoms and made the drowsy senior smile at the silly sight.
Minseok had about the brain capacity to ponder what Kyungsoo was going to do for about 5 seconds before it made an alarming screeching sound and ground to a stop. His brain decides to think about more simple details. There were ink stains all on his palm. There are 3 pens lying defeated around his desk. And there's a cup with a dark ring of coffee remnants.
It wasn't until a mug was set in front of his face that Minseok was reminded that his roommate indeed leave the room and he blinked slowly at the ceramic. "Wham?" he garbled.
Kyungsoo took his hands and wrapped them around the steaming mug and simply replied, "Green tea." When Minseok get continued to lie there like a broken puppet Kyungsoo added, "For fatigue."
Minseok really did try. He really did try to make the corners of his mouth curl up in the semblance of a smile, but he probably looked more like the Joker than a grateful roommate. But Kyungsoo's been the senior's roommate for long enough to get the message, so he good naturely shakes his head and begins to maneuver Minseok's very floppy body into a relative sitting up position and hand the drink to him.
With an embarrassingly large amount of willpower, the tired man brings the mug up to his lips and takes a small sip to avoid burning his tongue. Even after a tiny sip, he feels the warm liquid begin to work its magic on him and he hums appreciatively to his roommate. There's a small smile on Kyungsoo's equally tired face, so Minseok sets the cup down before gesturing to the sophomore.
Kyungsoo raises his brow but at Minseok's insistent come hither movement he leans in closer. Minseok turns, places his hands on both sides of Kyungsoo's face and plants a soft, grateful kiss on his lips.
The other college boy swallows his squeak that Minseok just finds adorable and a faint pink feathers across his cheeks (which are getting alarmingly sunken in from the exhaustion of finals week) and he's visibly flustered. "W-what's that for?" he stammers but makes no movement to draw away.
Minseok pulls his roommate a little closer until their noses are touching and even though he can see the fatigue etched in the lines of Kyungsoo's eyes and dark circles, he just smiles, "Just thank you."
Staring into Minseok's probably a bit unfocused eyes, Kyungsoo eventually bumps his head to Minseok, "Silly."
When the smaller draws away, Minseok makes a little noise in protest and his roommate just rolls his eyes at the elder. "You're done. Finish that tea and get some sleep."
Under Kyungsoo's watchful eye, he sips the rest of his warm beverage and (he whines at Kyungsoo to help him up, but the other whacks him on the head and orders him to get there himself) makes his way over to his bed before beginnig to tip over onto the comforter, honestly too tired to pull the blankets back.
Before he lets gravity do the work, Minseok pulls the Kyungsoo down with him and they both tumble over Minseok's too small bed. Kyungsoo falls onto Minseok with an oof! and when Kyungsoo draws back with an affronted look, Minseok pulls him back with a quiet, "Go to sleep. You're just as tired as me." Neither can really care about the lights left on and they fall asleep, lulled by each other's evening breathing and the persistent tug of sleep. There's a few benefits of your boyfriend being your roommate.