Shut Up and Drive [8/?]
Title: Shut Up and Drive
Pairings: Yoosu, Jaeho, Kangteuk
Length: Chapter fic
Author: rainbowpebbles
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama, Humour, Fluff
Summary: Yoochun and Yunho are paramedics. Junsu is a nurse and Changmin is a doctor. Yoochun and Junsu officially hate each other to bits, and Yunho likes Jaejoong (the florist!) but he’s too shy to do anything about it :D Enough said. Welcome to Joong Woon General Hospital.
Yoochun poked at his cereal with his spoon, trying to make individual cornflakes drown in milk. Maybe I should add some kimchi into this?
“Oh my goodness.” Yoochun looked up as he heard another voice. “Oh my goodness.”
Changmin walked in front of Yoochun, his eyes wide. Yoochun felt like a baboon in the zoo.
“Oh MY-”
“Changmin,” Yoochun growled. “You don’t want to know what’s gonna happen if you repeat that one. more. time. And you have no goodness to speak of, stop telling lies.”
His short speech seemed to send Changmin to a higher level of bewilderment. The doctor moved forward cautiously, pinching one of Yoochun’s cheeks. “Working facial muscles, coherent speech…” He glanced down at Yoochun’s drowned cornflakes. “Relatively healthy brain-hand co-ordination…”
Changmin stepped back, running quickly to pull the curtains open. “And the sun rose only 2 HOURS AGO!”
“…”
“YUNHO HYUNG! HYUNG! COME QUICKLY! THE ALIENS ABDUCTED YOOCHUN HYUNG AND SENT US A REPLACEMENT-”
“…”
“CALL THE HOSPITAL! WE’RE TAKING TIME OFF TO CELEBRATE!”
Yoochun would have run over to strangle Changmin by his skinny neck, but that wasn’t gonna happen, because Yoochun would have probably run out of energy and fallen flat on his face before he was even halfway there. Miracles happen slowly. Especially in the morning.
Changmin walked over, grinning, apparently satisfied after having his dose of sarcastic morning humour. He plopped down on a chair opposite Yoochun, grabbing a granola bar to munch on.
“Hey hyung.”
“…what.”
“Do you remember when you were nineteen, I challenged you to hang upside-down on the monkey bars and you flashed your superman underwear to all the five-year-olds and their mothers?”
Yoochun felt a tic appear on his forehead. “Is there a reason why you’re bringing that up?”
“No. Just wanted to remind you of how embarrassing you are.”
“…are you on a sugar high?”
“No~” Changmin hummed. “I just know what you have to do today, that’s all.”
Yoochun imagined a volcano erupting and overflowing in his brain. Lava everywhere. “Thank you for being so…supportive.”
Changmin grinned. “Your welcome!” He crushed the granola bar wrapper, tossing it into the bin. “Now I can finally tell Kibum that he’s wrong.”
Yoochun looked puzzled. “What’s he wrong about?”
Changmin shrugged, standing up to walk back to his room. “I don’t know, he has this weird theory that I can never spend five minutes talking to a mentally-challenged individual.” He smiled innocently. “Now I can tell him I just did!”
If Changmin weren’t so bloody tall, Yoochun would be the first one to grab a plank of wood and knock his annoying smirking face into the ground.
~*~
The bell that hung at the door of the florist shop tinkled merrily as a customer entered, his tall frame nearly knocking over the rack of flowers nearby. Jaejoong called out a greeting brightly, before he realized who it was. He gave the other a large smile. “Yoochun-ah! What brings you here so early in the morning?”
The tall paramedic looked out of place in the shop, one of his hands behind his neck, the other fiddling with the petals of a nearby daisy. “I…err…”
Jaejoong grinned, feigning innocence to make the other feel less uncomfortable. Even though I know exactly why he’s here. “Did Yunho send you here to give me a message?”
“No, it’s not that,” The other trailed off. “I was wondering…”
Jaejoong hid a knowing smile. “Wondering what?”
“I…” Yoochun pretended to look around. “I was just wondering…what flowers are the most popular here?”
“Well,” Jaejoong moved towards him from behind the counter. “It’s difficult to say. Sometimes the daisies sell better, sometimes people prefer lilies. And sometimes I get customers who ask for small cactus plants. But…” Jaejoong trailed off deliberately, looking at Yoochun.
The younger man seemed to shirk back a little. “…but?”
Jaejoong smiled cheerily. “If the person you’re giving the flowers to is a person who is bright and lively, or if the person needs cheering up, then I recommend these.” He pointed to a few stalks of large flowers.
Yoochun’s fingers landed on soft yellow petals. “Sunflowers?”
Jaejoong leaned closer to the other man’s ear. “Junsu’s favourite.”
Yoochun blushed. “I-I’ll take one then.”
“Take three,” Jaejoong grabbed three large stalks, bringing them to the counter to wrap them up properly. “One’s too lonely. And you don’t have to pay,” Jaejoong quickly injected, as Yoochun started to reach for his wallet. He grinned. “It’s on me!”
Yoochun stuttered. “B-But…”
Jaejoong’s hands skillfully wrapped the sunflowers quickly, before he remembered something. He quickly picked up the small card, attaching it to the sunflowers with a piece of gold string. “I’ll throw this in just for you as well.”
Yoochun took the flowers from Jaejoong, his fingers flipping the card over. It had a small, remorseful-looking bear printed on its cover, holding a bunch colourful balloons. “This…”
“It’s a blank card, so you’ll have to write something in it.” Jaejoong winked. “You know what to do.”
Yoochun looked at the sunflowers, before looking up and smiling. “Thanks hyung.” He opened the door and it tinkled again. “I owe you one!”
“Anytime!” Jaejoong gave him a jolly wave. When Yoochun had disappeared, Jaejoong sat down on his chair with a huge, satisfied grin. Taking out his phone, he began to text Yunho.
~*~
Yoochun sat on a plastic chair near the pediatrics ward, flowers clutched in one hand and a pen being twirled by the other. What to write?
The sad-looking bear stared back at him, its paw holding on to the strings of three balloons. Pink, blue and yellow. Yoochun imagined the bear stepping out of the card to give him a kick and yell at him to get a move on.
How about “Sorry for pushing you into a fountain, giving you a female nurse’s uniform and then stealing your clothes”?
He frowned. Nah. That way he’d remember everything twice as clearly. And it probably can’t fit into the card anyway.
His brain continued to throw up absurd lines.
“Sorry for not checking that the uniform came in two separate pieces.”?
How about…”For what it’s worth, you wore the uniform better than any other female I’ve seen yesterday!”
OK HALT! We had an agreement on this, brain, we will not think in that direction, we will stop associating Junsu with bikini babes. And we will stop watching re-runs of Baywatch on cable.
Yoochun tapped the pen against his forehead, scrambling his brains to think of something short and suitable. How about… “I’m sorry.”
He thought for a while. The simple statement seemed to lack sincerity. And it sounded more like an obligation than an actual apology.
Yoochun lifted the pen before scribbling something onto the card, trying to make his messy scrawl look neater. There.
Hold up, there’s something missing.
The pen met the paper again as Yoochun added something more. He smiled before stowing the pen into his pocket, reminding himself to return it to Changmin’s locker before its owner realized that he nicked it.
“Hyung!” A young voice called out. “Aren’t you the hyung who pushed Junsu hyung into the fountain yesterday?”
What a way to have your memory refreshed. Yoochun spotted Junjin being pushed on a wheelchair. “Hey.”
Junjin’s wheelchair stopped beside Yoochun’s shoes, and the younger boy’s eyes darted left and right before he leaned in and whispered to the paramedic. “So…what happened yesterday?”
“You’ll never believe it but I actually made things ten times worse.” Yoochun answered in a similar hushed tone. Confusion flitted across his face. “Why are we whispering?”
Junjin’s eyes widened comically before he jerked his head slightly to the side.
“Huh?”
Junjin let out a small strangled noise. As if someone was squeezing a chipmunk.
Yoochun’s eyebrows furrowed. What’s this kid trying to say?
The person standing behind Junjin’s wheelchair gave a small cough.
Junjin whispered something under his breath.
Yoochun craned his neck more in the boy’s direction. “What was that?”
“…hyung!”
“Yeah I know, you have to call me hyung, I’m about a decade older and there’s this obvious height difference-”
“Not you! Behind me!”
Yoochun jumped out of his seat, finally taking notice of the nurse who was pushing Junjin’s wheelchair. “Junsu!”
It took a while for everything to kick in; Yoochun had to resist the urge to run Junjin’s wheelchair over his toes to see if he was dreaming. His eyes took in the newly cut hair first, jet black and slightly gelled up, before falling to his pierced ears, each with a thick, simple silver ring through them. The roundness of his cheeks seemed to have vanished overnight, though Yoochun knew that was not possible…it was the hair, the hair that brought out that jaw and those cheekbones-
Control, please shut the dam now, his drool’s about to overflow and he’s gonna look like a slobbering idiot, I repeat, SHUT THE DAM-
A pair of fingers snapped so close to his face that Yoochun feared for the well-being of his eyelashes.
“Yah, Park Yoochun!” The pink on the nurse’s cheeks contrasted well with his new dark hair.
“H-huh?” An intelligent answer.
“…you’re standing in the way.”
“Oh.” Yoochun acknowledged, but didn’t move an inch, his eyes fixed on Junsu’s new look. “You…”
Junsu seemed to be trying his best to keep a neutral face. “What?”
“You…you…cut your hair.” A remarkable observation.
Junjin groaned and smacked his face with his palm.
“A-and…it’s black now. Not red.” Yoochun’s brain was really working overtime now.
“I’m glad you’re not totally blind.” Junsu’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Now if you’ll excuse me…”
“Hold on!” Yoochun blurted out. “I…” For a moment, his hands seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to do, before he thrust the flowers in Junsu’s direction. “These are for you.”
Junsu blinked in surprise.
Yoochun flushed, pressing the flowers into the nurse’s arms. “Just take them! I-”
The conversation was broken as Yoochun felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Yunho hyung? “Yeoboseyo?”
“Yoochun, we have to go, there’s an emergency!”
“But…” Yoochun lifted his arm to check his watch. “My shift’s not for another hour. Are we shorthanded?”
“…it’s a fire, Yoochun. The situation’s quite rough, the evacuation was rather messy...”
“Was it huge? Where was it?”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and for a moment Yoochun thought the connection had been cut off.
“Yoochun…it’s…it’s Kyungji High School. Kyungji High School’s on fire.”
~*~
The paramedic was gone before he knew it, and Junsu was left blinking in the corridor, three bright yellow sunflowers in hand.
“Hyung…” There was a tug at his uniform (which was made for a male nurse, thank you very much). “There’s a card.”
Junsu turned the sunflowers over, his fingers grasping the small card. His eyes fell on the sad-looking grey teddy bear on its cover, holding onto three balloons. Flipping the card open, the corners of his lips twitched upward slowly.
“I’m sorry for being such an idiot. Forgive me?”
At the bottom of the writing was a small illustration of one stick figurine bowing down to another. The standing figurine, Junsu noted with amusement, was wearing shirt and pants, with Yoochun labeling each article of clothing carefully.
He felt something heavy lift off his chest, and a gush of happiness washed over him.
“Hyung?” Junjin tried to sit up straighter. “What does the card say?”
Junsu bent down to let him read it, watching as the younger boy grinned. “You see! He wasn’t that bad after all, was he? He’s nice hyung, I told you so!”
Junsu pretended to look unconvinced, giving and indignant sniff. “They’re just flowers.”
“But they’re your favourite type of flowers, right?” Junjin stared up at the nurse with wide eyes. “And he wrote you a note!”
The nurse felt a hot flush across his face. “Let’s just go for your walk now!”
“Hyung…” There was another tug at his sleeve. “It’s ok. Let’s not go down today.”
Junsu stopped pushing, looking at the boy with concern. “Why not? Are you feeling unwell? Do you want me page Dr. Kim?”
“I’m fine!” The younger boy smiled. “I…I just want to sit in the ward and talk to you for today. Just today.”
Junsu froze slightly. Did he catch wind of… “Junjin…”
“I know it’s your last day working at the pediatrics ward, hyung.” Junjin gave a small smile. “Kibum hyung told me. You’re getting transferred to a general ward right? That means you can take care of everyone: adults, children, old people…”
“Junjin,” Junsu said gently. “It doesn’t mean that I’m not coming back. I just need to get a little bit of exposure-”
“I know!” Junjin smiled, a little too brightly. “Just…”
Both of them knew what the rest of the sentence was.
It’s just that I don’t know whether I’ll still be alive when you come back.
“I’ll visit.” Junsu said resolutely. “I’ll visit everyday, until you’re sick of me.”
Junjin laughed. “I can’t be sick of you!”
Junsu raised his eyebrows mockingly. “Oh? You haven’t tried it yet!” Hearing the other boy giggle, Junsu released the tension in his shoulders.
“Alright, let’s go back in.”
~*~
Yoochun had leapt into the driver’s seat of the ambulance, only to get pulled out by Yunho again. He was about to snarl when Kangin pushed him out of the way to take the wheel. Yunho quickly grabbed his arm and shoved him into the back of the ambulance.
“Yoochun, calm down!”
“How the heck do you expect me to calm down?!” The other answered, his eyes wide and his pupils dilated. “Let me drive there! We have to get there quickly!”
“Yunho’s right, Yoochun,” Leeteuk tried to assure him in a soothing manner. “You’re in no state of mind to drive now, you’d probably knock somebody down on the road-”
“IT’S AN EMERGENCY-”
“WHEN IS IT NOT AN EMERGENCY?!” Yunho hollered back. “Our jobs revolve around emergencies, Yoochun! Just keep your cool!”
“STOP TRYING TO TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!” Yoochun yelled. “You don’t know what-”
“Don’t tell me I don’t know! YOU don’t even know what you’re doing now!”
“What I do know,” Leeteuk said softly. “…is that losing your head now isn’t going to keep Yoohwan safe, Yoochun.”
The statement cut through the yelling match like a knife. Yoochun slumped backward into his seat, worry evident in the frown lines on his face. “Yoohwan..”
Yunho clasped his shoulder. “The first thing you should do when you get there is go to the teachers. They have to take down the attendance of all the students, it’s an evacuation regulation. He will be there, Yoochun, trust me.”
“What if he’s not there?” Yoochun whispered hoarsely. “What if he’s trapped-”
“Think happy thoughts,” Kangin growled. “…and that won’t happen. Yoohwan’s a smart kid, he knows how to handle himself.”
“All right listen up.” Leeteuk spoke with an air of authority. “This is the plan of action. Yoochun, you can go and check with the teachers and make sure your brother is alive and kicking. After that you get back your butt back here to help the rest of us.”
Yoochun shot him a doubtful gaze. “But if…”
“If your brother is not there, you will still come back to us, do you hear?” Leeteuk gave him a stern look. “We’ll alert the firefighters that there’s still someone in the building. But you get yourself back first, and don’t do anything stupid, okay?”
There was no verbal answer. Yoochun just sat there, staring at his hands which were clasped together.
Leeteuk took that as a yes.
~*~
Today is not a good day.
Earlier that morning Yunho had actually been thinking otherwise: He had woken up with a smile on his face from a nice dream the night before. He had managed to wake Yoochun up peacefully without any drastic measures like blasting loud and annoying para-para dance music in the room or borrowing fertilizer from Leeteuk hyung to smear it all over Yoochun’s face. He did not crash into a pillar with happy giddiness after receiving an SMS from Jaejoong.
All in all, Yunho had thought that the day was moving pretty smoothly. Perfectly, in fact.
The happy thoughts and fluffy bunnies disappeared after Yunho received the news that a school was on fire. The very school that Park Yoohwan attended.
The ambulance finally came to a stop. “All right, everyone out now!” Kangin barked. Yoochun didn’t need to be told twice, his fingers white from gripping the handle of the door too hard.
Yunho watched as Yoochun disappeared into the crowd. He’ll be back. It was not the time to worry about the little brothers of best friends. Their priority was to save lives. Or at least bring them back to the hospital where they could be saved.
He helped Leeteuk unload a stretcher, and together they pushed it towards the school building. Pushing past the throng of people, they reached the line where the police were blocked off access to the burning building. Upon seeing them, a police officer waved them over, a relieved look on his face. “You’re here!”
Leeteuk gave him a curt nod. “We got here as fast as we could. What’s the situation?”
“So far we’ve only found one casualty, a girl who burnt her hands when she tried to open a door using its metal handle, but it doesn’t look too serious, though I think you should bring her back to the hospital, she’s quite traumatized. If you’ll follow me I’ll bring you to her now-”
Two words in the policeman’s speech stuck out like sore thumbs. So far. “Are the rest of the students accounted for? We won’t be expecting any more casualties, will we?”
“From what we know only 2 students are unaccounted for. One is a girl…Kim Ah-young or something like that. But her teacher reckons that she’s not in town, her classmates said that she had a relative’s funeral to attend or something. The other kid’s a boy, a Park something or whatnot. He’s the one the firefighters are looking for now, nobody’s seen him around anywhere-”
Yunho felt his blood run cold.
Kangin saw the expression on his face and placed a hand gently on Yunho’s shoulder. “Okay, let’s all relax for a minute and go pick up the girl with barbequed hands first. We need to see how bad her burns are, and check her for trauma and smoke inhalation.”
“Hyung,” Yunho looked at him fearfully. “Do you think…what are the chances?”
“Very low.” Leeteuk said firmly. “There are many Parks in Korea, and many Parks in this school. It can’t be such a coincidence, it can’t be Park Yoo-”
“YOOHWAN!”
Yunho watched as a figure dressed in dark blue ran past the huge fire engine amidst the yells of the astonished firefighters.
Straight into the heart of the burning school.
Yunho could only watch blankly as the thoughts of a perfect day went up in smoke.
~*~
Yoochun was hot. Very hot.
While Yoochun often felt and believed that he was the epitome of sexiness, he was rather irked to admit that this time, the heat surrounding him was being emitted by something else other than himself.
Sweat trickled down the side of his face as flames licked hungrily at the soles of his boots, melting the rubber that was not made to withstand such high levels of heat. His eyes saw nothing but fire everywhere, the flames burning everything in sight; tables, chairs, doors…
There’s no time. Yoochun’s mind felt strangely blank and empty. I’m running out of time.
“YOOHWAN!” He hollered, running down corridors, jumping over burning objects. “YOOHWAN! WHERE ARE YOU?!”
Panting heavily, he reached the stairwell and began climbing the staircase, trying not to choke on the large amount of smoke. The computer lab, he must be there, he spends half his time online-
“YOOHWAN!” He called out desperately, feeling tears gather at his eyes. “ANSWER ME! YOOHWAN!” Reaching the computer lab, Yoochun stopped and took a deep breath. Taking a few steps backward, he charged forward and rammed the door with all the strength he had in his shoulder.
I can’t afford to lose you, not here, not NOW-
The door came apart easily, weakened by the heat of the fire, splintering into pieces on the floor.
“YOOHWAN!” Yoochun screamed, his voice hoarse. “WHERE ARE YOU YOOHWAN!”
He ran past the rows of computers and empty chairs, looking behind tables, flinching as his fingers skimmed hot surfaces. You can’t do this to me…
…please.
Yoochun turned as he heard the sound of sparks flying, watching with dread and fear as the rows of computer began to short-circuit. “Shit!”
The computers burst into a bright fireball, the flames growing even more ferocious, licking the ceiling, leaving him with almost no way out. The only remaining path he had was a small narrow strip of floor. His brother’s face flashed across his mind.
I have to get out of here.
Yoochun wrapped his arms around himself, preparing himself to run through the spreading fire.
And that was when the ceiling collapsed, unable to take the onslaught of heat from both below and above, leaving Yoochun trapped within its clutches.
end of chapter eight.
A/N: OH MAN. THIS TOOK FOREVER! AND IT IS NOT EVEN FUNNEH D: I FAIL AT WRITING ACTION-DRAMA D: D: D:
actually this chapter was sort of sitting in my computer almost-completed for a few days, but today I decided to add the last scene and post it up. RL has been really distracting and difficult! Everywhere I look I see work! *ducks and hides*
For those of you who are unaware, I’m currently taking my A-levels in Nov this year. And to prepare for that, I’m sitting for my preliminary exams in about 3 weeks time, which is why I’m totally buried in work T.T forgive me. after this chapter, I really don’t know when my next update will be, but there is a really high possibility that it will only come after my prelims end at the end of august D:
to all those who are still reading this, I love you all VERY VERY MUCH <333 thank you for putting up with my nonsense! special shout-out to zaiho, who kept egging me to write this :D
comments are much loved!
Pairings: Yoosu, Jaeho, Kangteuk
Length: Chapter fic
Author: rainbowpebbles
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama, Humour, Fluff
Summary: Yoochun and Yunho are paramedics. Junsu is a nurse and Changmin is a doctor. Yoochun and Junsu officially hate each other to bits, and Yunho likes Jaejoong (the florist!) but he’s too shy to do anything about it :D Enough said. Welcome to Joong Woon General Hospital.
Yoochun poked at his cereal with his spoon, trying to make individual cornflakes drown in milk. Maybe I should add some kimchi into this?
“Oh my goodness.” Yoochun looked up as he heard another voice. “Oh my goodness.”
Changmin walked in front of Yoochun, his eyes wide. Yoochun felt like a baboon in the zoo.
“Oh MY-”
“Changmin,” Yoochun growled. “You don’t want to know what’s gonna happen if you repeat that one. more. time. And you have no goodness to speak of, stop telling lies.”
His short speech seemed to send Changmin to a higher level of bewilderment. The doctor moved forward cautiously, pinching one of Yoochun’s cheeks. “Working facial muscles, coherent speech…” He glanced down at Yoochun’s drowned cornflakes. “Relatively healthy brain-hand co-ordination…”
Changmin stepped back, running quickly to pull the curtains open. “And the sun rose only 2 HOURS AGO!”
“…”
“YUNHO HYUNG! HYUNG! COME QUICKLY! THE ALIENS ABDUCTED YOOCHUN HYUNG AND SENT US A REPLACEMENT-”
“…”
“CALL THE HOSPITAL! WE’RE TAKING TIME OFF TO CELEBRATE!”
Yoochun would have run over to strangle Changmin by his skinny neck, but that wasn’t gonna happen, because Yoochun would have probably run out of energy and fallen flat on his face before he was even halfway there. Miracles happen slowly. Especially in the morning.
Changmin walked over, grinning, apparently satisfied after having his dose of sarcastic morning humour. He plopped down on a chair opposite Yoochun, grabbing a granola bar to munch on.
“Hey hyung.”
“…what.”
“Do you remember when you were nineteen, I challenged you to hang upside-down on the monkey bars and you flashed your superman underwear to all the five-year-olds and their mothers?”
Yoochun felt a tic appear on his forehead. “Is there a reason why you’re bringing that up?”
“No. Just wanted to remind you of how embarrassing you are.”
“…are you on a sugar high?”
“No~” Changmin hummed. “I just know what you have to do today, that’s all.”
Yoochun imagined a volcano erupting and overflowing in his brain. Lava everywhere. “Thank you for being so…supportive.”
Changmin grinned. “Your welcome!” He crushed the granola bar wrapper, tossing it into the bin. “Now I can finally tell Kibum that he’s wrong.”
Yoochun looked puzzled. “What’s he wrong about?”
Changmin shrugged, standing up to walk back to his room. “I don’t know, he has this weird theory that I can never spend five minutes talking to a mentally-challenged individual.” He smiled innocently. “Now I can tell him I just did!”
If Changmin weren’t so bloody tall, Yoochun would be the first one to grab a plank of wood and knock his annoying smirking face into the ground.
~*~
The bell that hung at the door of the florist shop tinkled merrily as a customer entered, his tall frame nearly knocking over the rack of flowers nearby. Jaejoong called out a greeting brightly, before he realized who it was. He gave the other a large smile. “Yoochun-ah! What brings you here so early in the morning?”
The tall paramedic looked out of place in the shop, one of his hands behind his neck, the other fiddling with the petals of a nearby daisy. “I…err…”
Jaejoong grinned, feigning innocence to make the other feel less uncomfortable. Even though I know exactly why he’s here. “Did Yunho send you here to give me a message?”
“No, it’s not that,” The other trailed off. “I was wondering…”
Jaejoong hid a knowing smile. “Wondering what?”
“I…” Yoochun pretended to look around. “I was just wondering…what flowers are the most popular here?”
“Well,” Jaejoong moved towards him from behind the counter. “It’s difficult to say. Sometimes the daisies sell better, sometimes people prefer lilies. And sometimes I get customers who ask for small cactus plants. But…” Jaejoong trailed off deliberately, looking at Yoochun.
The younger man seemed to shirk back a little. “…but?”
Jaejoong smiled cheerily. “If the person you’re giving the flowers to is a person who is bright and lively, or if the person needs cheering up, then I recommend these.” He pointed to a few stalks of large flowers.
Yoochun’s fingers landed on soft yellow petals. “Sunflowers?”
Jaejoong leaned closer to the other man’s ear. “Junsu’s favourite.”
Yoochun blushed. “I-I’ll take one then.”
“Take three,” Jaejoong grabbed three large stalks, bringing them to the counter to wrap them up properly. “One’s too lonely. And you don’t have to pay,” Jaejoong quickly injected, as Yoochun started to reach for his wallet. He grinned. “It’s on me!”
Yoochun stuttered. “B-But…”
Jaejoong’s hands skillfully wrapped the sunflowers quickly, before he remembered something. He quickly picked up the small card, attaching it to the sunflowers with a piece of gold string. “I’ll throw this in just for you as well.”
Yoochun took the flowers from Jaejoong, his fingers flipping the card over. It had a small, remorseful-looking bear printed on its cover, holding a bunch colourful balloons. “This…”
“It’s a blank card, so you’ll have to write something in it.” Jaejoong winked. “You know what to do.”
Yoochun looked at the sunflowers, before looking up and smiling. “Thanks hyung.” He opened the door and it tinkled again. “I owe you one!”
“Anytime!” Jaejoong gave him a jolly wave. When Yoochun had disappeared, Jaejoong sat down on his chair with a huge, satisfied grin. Taking out his phone, he began to text Yunho.
~*~
Yoochun sat on a plastic chair near the pediatrics ward, flowers clutched in one hand and a pen being twirled by the other. What to write?
The sad-looking bear stared back at him, its paw holding on to the strings of three balloons. Pink, blue and yellow. Yoochun imagined the bear stepping out of the card to give him a kick and yell at him to get a move on.
How about “Sorry for pushing you into a fountain, giving you a female nurse’s uniform and then stealing your clothes”?
He frowned. Nah. That way he’d remember everything twice as clearly. And it probably can’t fit into the card anyway.
His brain continued to throw up absurd lines.
“Sorry for not checking that the uniform came in two separate pieces.”?
How about…”For what it’s worth, you wore the uniform better than any other female I’ve seen yesterday!”
OK HALT! We had an agreement on this, brain, we will not think in that direction, we will stop associating Junsu with bikini babes. And we will stop watching re-runs of Baywatch on cable.
Yoochun tapped the pen against his forehead, scrambling his brains to think of something short and suitable. How about… “I’m sorry.”
He thought for a while. The simple statement seemed to lack sincerity. And it sounded more like an obligation than an actual apology.
Yoochun lifted the pen before scribbling something onto the card, trying to make his messy scrawl look neater. There.
Hold up, there’s something missing.
The pen met the paper again as Yoochun added something more. He smiled before stowing the pen into his pocket, reminding himself to return it to Changmin’s locker before its owner realized that he nicked it.
“Hyung!” A young voice called out. “Aren’t you the hyung who pushed Junsu hyung into the fountain yesterday?”
What a way to have your memory refreshed. Yoochun spotted Junjin being pushed on a wheelchair. “Hey.”
Junjin’s wheelchair stopped beside Yoochun’s shoes, and the younger boy’s eyes darted left and right before he leaned in and whispered to the paramedic. “So…what happened yesterday?”
“You’ll never believe it but I actually made things ten times worse.” Yoochun answered in a similar hushed tone. Confusion flitted across his face. “Why are we whispering?”
Junjin’s eyes widened comically before he jerked his head slightly to the side.
“Huh?”
Junjin let out a small strangled noise. As if someone was squeezing a chipmunk.
Yoochun’s eyebrows furrowed. What’s this kid trying to say?
The person standing behind Junjin’s wheelchair gave a small cough.
Junjin whispered something under his breath.
Yoochun craned his neck more in the boy’s direction. “What was that?”
“…hyung!”
“Yeah I know, you have to call me hyung, I’m about a decade older and there’s this obvious height difference-”
“Not you! Behind me!”
Yoochun jumped out of his seat, finally taking notice of the nurse who was pushing Junjin’s wheelchair. “Junsu!”
It took a while for everything to kick in; Yoochun had to resist the urge to run Junjin’s wheelchair over his toes to see if he was dreaming. His eyes took in the newly cut hair first, jet black and slightly gelled up, before falling to his pierced ears, each with a thick, simple silver ring through them. The roundness of his cheeks seemed to have vanished overnight, though Yoochun knew that was not possible…it was the hair, the hair that brought out that jaw and those cheekbones-
Control, please shut the dam now, his drool’s about to overflow and he’s gonna look like a slobbering idiot, I repeat, SHUT THE DAM-
A pair of fingers snapped so close to his face that Yoochun feared for the well-being of his eyelashes.
“Yah, Park Yoochun!” The pink on the nurse’s cheeks contrasted well with his new dark hair.
“H-huh?” An intelligent answer.
“…you’re standing in the way.”
“Oh.” Yoochun acknowledged, but didn’t move an inch, his eyes fixed on Junsu’s new look. “You…”
Junsu seemed to be trying his best to keep a neutral face. “What?”
“You…you…cut your hair.” A remarkable observation.
Junjin groaned and smacked his face with his palm.
“A-and…it’s black now. Not red.” Yoochun’s brain was really working overtime now.
“I’m glad you’re not totally blind.” Junsu’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Now if you’ll excuse me…”
“Hold on!” Yoochun blurted out. “I…” For a moment, his hands seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to do, before he thrust the flowers in Junsu’s direction. “These are for you.”
Junsu blinked in surprise.
Yoochun flushed, pressing the flowers into the nurse’s arms. “Just take them! I-”
The conversation was broken as Yoochun felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Yunho hyung? “Yeoboseyo?”
“Yoochun, we have to go, there’s an emergency!”
“But…” Yoochun lifted his arm to check his watch. “My shift’s not for another hour. Are we shorthanded?”
“…it’s a fire, Yoochun. The situation’s quite rough, the evacuation was rather messy...”
“Was it huge? Where was it?”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and for a moment Yoochun thought the connection had been cut off.
“Yoochun…it’s…it’s Kyungji High School. Kyungji High School’s on fire.”
~*~
The paramedic was gone before he knew it, and Junsu was left blinking in the corridor, three bright yellow sunflowers in hand.
“Hyung…” There was a tug at his uniform (which was made for a male nurse, thank you very much). “There’s a card.”
Junsu turned the sunflowers over, his fingers grasping the small card. His eyes fell on the sad-looking grey teddy bear on its cover, holding onto three balloons. Flipping the card open, the corners of his lips twitched upward slowly.
“I’m sorry for being such an idiot. Forgive me?”
At the bottom of the writing was a small illustration of one stick figurine bowing down to another. The standing figurine, Junsu noted with amusement, was wearing shirt and pants, with Yoochun labeling each article of clothing carefully.
He felt something heavy lift off his chest, and a gush of happiness washed over him.
“Hyung?” Junjin tried to sit up straighter. “What does the card say?”
Junsu bent down to let him read it, watching as the younger boy grinned. “You see! He wasn’t that bad after all, was he? He’s nice hyung, I told you so!”
Junsu pretended to look unconvinced, giving and indignant sniff. “They’re just flowers.”
“But they’re your favourite type of flowers, right?” Junjin stared up at the nurse with wide eyes. “And he wrote you a note!”
The nurse felt a hot flush across his face. “Let’s just go for your walk now!”
“Hyung…” There was another tug at his sleeve. “It’s ok. Let’s not go down today.”
Junsu stopped pushing, looking at the boy with concern. “Why not? Are you feeling unwell? Do you want me page Dr. Kim?”
“I’m fine!” The younger boy smiled. “I…I just want to sit in the ward and talk to you for today. Just today.”
Junsu froze slightly. Did he catch wind of… “Junjin…”
“I know it’s your last day working at the pediatrics ward, hyung.” Junjin gave a small smile. “Kibum hyung told me. You’re getting transferred to a general ward right? That means you can take care of everyone: adults, children, old people…”
“Junjin,” Junsu said gently. “It doesn’t mean that I’m not coming back. I just need to get a little bit of exposure-”
“I know!” Junjin smiled, a little too brightly. “Just…”
Both of them knew what the rest of the sentence was.
It’s just that I don’t know whether I’ll still be alive when you come back.
“I’ll visit.” Junsu said resolutely. “I’ll visit everyday, until you’re sick of me.”
Junjin laughed. “I can’t be sick of you!”
Junsu raised his eyebrows mockingly. “Oh? You haven’t tried it yet!” Hearing the other boy giggle, Junsu released the tension in his shoulders.
“Alright, let’s go back in.”
~*~
Yoochun had leapt into the driver’s seat of the ambulance, only to get pulled out by Yunho again. He was about to snarl when Kangin pushed him out of the way to take the wheel. Yunho quickly grabbed his arm and shoved him into the back of the ambulance.
“Yoochun, calm down!”
“How the heck do you expect me to calm down?!” The other answered, his eyes wide and his pupils dilated. “Let me drive there! We have to get there quickly!”
“Yunho’s right, Yoochun,” Leeteuk tried to assure him in a soothing manner. “You’re in no state of mind to drive now, you’d probably knock somebody down on the road-”
“IT’S AN EMERGENCY-”
“WHEN IS IT NOT AN EMERGENCY?!” Yunho hollered back. “Our jobs revolve around emergencies, Yoochun! Just keep your cool!”
“STOP TRYING TO TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!” Yoochun yelled. “You don’t know what-”
“Don’t tell me I don’t know! YOU don’t even know what you’re doing now!”
“What I do know,” Leeteuk said softly. “…is that losing your head now isn’t going to keep Yoohwan safe, Yoochun.”
The statement cut through the yelling match like a knife. Yoochun slumped backward into his seat, worry evident in the frown lines on his face. “Yoohwan..”
Yunho clasped his shoulder. “The first thing you should do when you get there is go to the teachers. They have to take down the attendance of all the students, it’s an evacuation regulation. He will be there, Yoochun, trust me.”
“What if he’s not there?” Yoochun whispered hoarsely. “What if he’s trapped-”
“Think happy thoughts,” Kangin growled. “…and that won’t happen. Yoohwan’s a smart kid, he knows how to handle himself.”
“All right listen up.” Leeteuk spoke with an air of authority. “This is the plan of action. Yoochun, you can go and check with the teachers and make sure your brother is alive and kicking. After that you get back your butt back here to help the rest of us.”
Yoochun shot him a doubtful gaze. “But if…”
“If your brother is not there, you will still come back to us, do you hear?” Leeteuk gave him a stern look. “We’ll alert the firefighters that there’s still someone in the building. But you get yourself back first, and don’t do anything stupid, okay?”
There was no verbal answer. Yoochun just sat there, staring at his hands which were clasped together.
Leeteuk took that as a yes.
~*~
Today is not a good day.
Earlier that morning Yunho had actually been thinking otherwise: He had woken up with a smile on his face from a nice dream the night before. He had managed to wake Yoochun up peacefully without any drastic measures like blasting loud and annoying para-para dance music in the room or borrowing fertilizer from Leeteuk hyung to smear it all over Yoochun’s face. He did not crash into a pillar with happy giddiness after receiving an SMS from Jaejoong.
All in all, Yunho had thought that the day was moving pretty smoothly. Perfectly, in fact.
The happy thoughts and fluffy bunnies disappeared after Yunho received the news that a school was on fire. The very school that Park Yoohwan attended.
The ambulance finally came to a stop. “All right, everyone out now!” Kangin barked. Yoochun didn’t need to be told twice, his fingers white from gripping the handle of the door too hard.
Yunho watched as Yoochun disappeared into the crowd. He’ll be back. It was not the time to worry about the little brothers of best friends. Their priority was to save lives. Or at least bring them back to the hospital where they could be saved.
He helped Leeteuk unload a stretcher, and together they pushed it towards the school building. Pushing past the throng of people, they reached the line where the police were blocked off access to the burning building. Upon seeing them, a police officer waved them over, a relieved look on his face. “You’re here!”
Leeteuk gave him a curt nod. “We got here as fast as we could. What’s the situation?”
“So far we’ve only found one casualty, a girl who burnt her hands when she tried to open a door using its metal handle, but it doesn’t look too serious, though I think you should bring her back to the hospital, she’s quite traumatized. If you’ll follow me I’ll bring you to her now-”
Two words in the policeman’s speech stuck out like sore thumbs. So far. “Are the rest of the students accounted for? We won’t be expecting any more casualties, will we?”
“From what we know only 2 students are unaccounted for. One is a girl…Kim Ah-young or something like that. But her teacher reckons that she’s not in town, her classmates said that she had a relative’s funeral to attend or something. The other kid’s a boy, a Park something or whatnot. He’s the one the firefighters are looking for now, nobody’s seen him around anywhere-”
Yunho felt his blood run cold.
Kangin saw the expression on his face and placed a hand gently on Yunho’s shoulder. “Okay, let’s all relax for a minute and go pick up the girl with barbequed hands first. We need to see how bad her burns are, and check her for trauma and smoke inhalation.”
“Hyung,” Yunho looked at him fearfully. “Do you think…what are the chances?”
“Very low.” Leeteuk said firmly. “There are many Parks in Korea, and many Parks in this school. It can’t be such a coincidence, it can’t be Park Yoo-”
“YOOHWAN!”
Yunho watched as a figure dressed in dark blue ran past the huge fire engine amidst the yells of the astonished firefighters.
Straight into the heart of the burning school.
Yunho could only watch blankly as the thoughts of a perfect day went up in smoke.
~*~
Yoochun was hot. Very hot.
While Yoochun often felt and believed that he was the epitome of sexiness, he was rather irked to admit that this time, the heat surrounding him was being emitted by something else other than himself.
Sweat trickled down the side of his face as flames licked hungrily at the soles of his boots, melting the rubber that was not made to withstand such high levels of heat. His eyes saw nothing but fire everywhere, the flames burning everything in sight; tables, chairs, doors…
There’s no time. Yoochun’s mind felt strangely blank and empty. I’m running out of time.
“YOOHWAN!” He hollered, running down corridors, jumping over burning objects. “YOOHWAN! WHERE ARE YOU?!”
Panting heavily, he reached the stairwell and began climbing the staircase, trying not to choke on the large amount of smoke. The computer lab, he must be there, he spends half his time online-
“YOOHWAN!” He called out desperately, feeling tears gather at his eyes. “ANSWER ME! YOOHWAN!” Reaching the computer lab, Yoochun stopped and took a deep breath. Taking a few steps backward, he charged forward and rammed the door with all the strength he had in his shoulder.
I can’t afford to lose you, not here, not NOW-
The door came apart easily, weakened by the heat of the fire, splintering into pieces on the floor.
“YOOHWAN!” Yoochun screamed, his voice hoarse. “WHERE ARE YOU YOOHWAN!”
He ran past the rows of computers and empty chairs, looking behind tables, flinching as his fingers skimmed hot surfaces. You can’t do this to me…
…please.
Yoochun turned as he heard the sound of sparks flying, watching with dread and fear as the rows of computer began to short-circuit. “Shit!”
The computers burst into a bright fireball, the flames growing even more ferocious, licking the ceiling, leaving him with almost no way out. The only remaining path he had was a small narrow strip of floor. His brother’s face flashed across his mind.
I have to get out of here.
Yoochun wrapped his arms around himself, preparing himself to run through the spreading fire.
And that was when the ceiling collapsed, unable to take the onslaught of heat from both below and above, leaving Yoochun trapped within its clutches.
end of chapter eight.
A/N: OH MAN. THIS TOOK FOREVER! AND IT IS NOT EVEN FUNNEH D: I FAIL AT WRITING ACTION-DRAMA D: D: D:
actually this chapter was sort of sitting in my computer almost-completed for a few days, but today I decided to add the last scene and post it up. RL has been really distracting and difficult! Everywhere I look I see work! *ducks and hides*
For those of you who are unaware, I’m currently taking my A-levels in Nov this year. And to prepare for that, I’m sitting for my preliminary exams in about 3 weeks time, which is why I’m totally buried in work T.T forgive me. after this chapter, I really don’t know when my next update will be, but there is a really high possibility that it will only come after my prelims end at the end of august D:
to all those who are still reading this, I love you all VERY VERY MUCH <333 thank you for putting up with my nonsense! special shout-out to zaiho, who kept egging me to write this :D
comments are much loved!