Shut Up and Drive [9/?]
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.
FLASHBACK from chapter eight! (as requested by milollita) This helps to jog your memory a little ^_^ sorry for taking so long to update!
“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 FLASHBACK
~*~
“…Yoochun? Yoochun!”
The first thing Yoochun felt was pain, so intense that it seemed like it burned his very skin. A hazy thought floated across his mind, sniggering at the apt description.
It feels like it’s burnt because it was burned. Haha.
“Yah! You…idiot…don’t you dare close your eyes on me…”
Yoochun wanted to tell Yunho that it wouldn’t hurt to shut up for a moment or that if he had so much to say, he should just run off to look for Jaejoong hyung, but when he tried to open his mouth, he could not summon the strength to speak. He could feel his eyelids sinking downwards slowly. Might as well close them. Not like I can see much anyway. Bright lights and all.
Something nagged at him from the back of his mind. There was something important...He forced his mind to think back, trying to navigate through clouded thoughts.
Oh no.
Yoohwan.
Panic flooded into him, and suddenly he found a surge of energy enter his body. His eyelids fluttered open with difficulty, his lips struggling to form words. “…Yoo-…Yoohwan…”
He watched as the figure who was grasping his hand lightly stiffened. There was a short silence before he spoke. “Yoochun-ah…why did you do something so stupid?”
That’s not the point now. Where’s my little brother? Yoochun wanted to get up, he wanted to get up and shake Yunho’s shoulders till he gave him a proper answer. Tell me…
“…hwan…” Where’s he?
I need to know…I need to know that he’s safe…
Yoochun felt light tear drops on his hand, Yunho’s fingers tightening their grip on his. He watched with dread as the other paramedic shook his head slowly.
No.
No, don’t shake your head.
Tell me that he’s okay. Tell me that he got out safely.
That the teacher in-charge of marking attendance had no idea that the dumb idiot standing in front of him was called Park Yoohwan.
That he had been chasing after girls when they were making sure everyone was there.
That he forgot to call in sick and he’s actually at home with mom, being smothered with blankets and hot porridge.
The pain from his injuries numbed to a dull throb. Yoochun felt hot tears run down his face, and he finally gave up the struggle to keep his eyes open.
Why am I such a lousy older brother?
Why is it I can never protect him?
He couldn’t protect him from the neighbourhood bullies when they were younger. No matter how much Yoochun raised his voice and threatened them, they would just laugh it off. It would always end with the both of them crying, huddled in a corner of the playground, Yoochun with his arms around his brother.
He couldn’t stop their parents from filing for a divorce, couldn’t keep a family whole. When Yoohwan was asleep in his bed at night Yoochun would listen at the door of his parents’ bedroom, praying that they would shout less loudly so they wouldn’t wake his brother up, wondering why they were so angry with each other. At the end of it Yoochun had gone down on his knees, hands grabbing on to his father’s jacket, begging him not to go.
It didn’t work, anyway.
He couldn’t stop their dad from moving to America. From washing his hands clean from the family, or what used to be a family. Yoohwan had cried for an entire week.
“…needs oxygen! …smoke inhalation…”
The bits of conversation drifting around in the ambulance registered vaguely in Yoochun’s mind. He could hear the panic in Yunho’s voice. So much for telling me off about not keeping calm.
He felt a mask pressed against his face, coming to rest lightly on his cheekbones. The fresh flow of oxygen caused him to cough slightly before he took a deep breath, letting the clean air flow through his system. He felt Leeteuk’s comforting presence beside him, the elder brushing his hair from his face.
“…be back at the hospital soon…”
He vaguely heard Kangin cursing loudly in the background, yelling at motorists to give way even though they couldn’t hear him. Yoochun strained his ears after each curse, surprised each time when Leeteuk didn’t bother to tell him off.
The second last thing that Yoochun remembers seeing is Changmin’s pale and worried face looming over him, his mouth moving rapidly as he received an update on his condition from Leeteuk hyung.
…the last thing that Yoochun remembers seeing was a rapidly fading white figure running towards him, the image so blurred it might have been a hallucination, an angel conjured by the weakened state of his mind.
Junsu.
~*~
As Yunho watched Yoochun being pushed further away from him amidst yelling and hurried footsteps, he felt the adrenaline leave his body as quickly as it had come. Suddenly he felt a thousand years older.
It’s okay, he’ll be fine. Changmin and Shiwon are there.
Yunho was always good at re-assuring others.
But never himself.
He slumped against the wall, sliding down it till he collapsed into a heap on the floor. Saving people whose faces you probably wouldn’t even remember 2 days later was so different from having to see a friend - no - a brother, lying there on a stretcher with his eyes closed.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a motionless Yoochun being whisked away by a frowning Shiwon, with Changmin trailing behind, his footsteps awkward and uncertain, as if he was hesitant to follow. His dong saeng’s features were clouded with confusion and disbelief, his eyes unable to get rid of the shock they were portraying. Finally, Changmin disappeared into the operating theatre, leaving the doors swinging in his wake.
He could feel Leeteuk and Kangin standing beside him, trying to offer support, but Yunho couldn’t care less about where he was. He wanted to go to sleep and pretend everything was just a bad dream, that he could turn back time. To the time where they were still having breakfast, and the biggest worries on their minds were thinking of reasons why Yunho couldn’t make a deceit breakfast and whose turn it was to clean the toilet.
He closed his eyes, trying his best to stop the wetness from escaping. He’ll be fine. Why the heck are you crying?
A comforting presence suddenly found its way beside him, a gentle hand grasping his forearm. “Yunho-ah…”
He looked up, his eyes wet with unshed tears, only to see Jaejoong looking at him with worry in his eyes. Worry for Yoochun…and worry for him.
“Yunho?” Jaejoong voiced his name again, shifting closer to him, moving one arm to rest on his back. The other hand came up to rest on his cheek gently. “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine…”
Jaejoong suddenly felt Yunho burrow his head into his shoulder; felt tears wet the florist’s apron he was still wearing, something he had forgotten to remove in his hurry after he heard the devastating news.
“...that idiot…that idiot…”
He felt the mild tremors that ran through the other’s body; understood the panic and the fear that the other had faced. His fingers weaved a pattern through Yunho’s hair, stroking the soft strands gently and bringing the other closer into his embrace. “Shhh…it’s gonna be alright. He’s going to be fine…”
And in that moment Jaejoong wished he could be certain that he was telling Yunho the truth.
~*~
The news that a paramedic had been hurt in a fire had spread through the hospital faster than the news that there was a male nurse wearing a female nurse’s uniform. Amongst the hurried whispers and rumours a name had been circulated.
Park Yoochun.
Junsu had felt panic flood his heart, rushing out of the pediatrics ward even though he was still on shift. He had raced down the stairs instead of taking the lift, not knowing if the pounding in his heart was caused by the fact that he was sprinting or something else. The nurse inside of him was chiding him for running along the corridors, but right now, regulations were the last thing on his mind.
As he reached the A & E department, the blaring of the ambulance sirens seemed ten times louder than usual, drowning out the noise and chatter from other staff around him. He watched as an ambulance pulled into the area where patients were unloaded, and when its doors opened, the world was suddenly filled with nothing but silence.
Junsu raised one hand to cover his mouth. Oh no…
Leeteuk was the first to emerge, followed by Kangin who had been in the driver’s seat. The two of them, along with other nurses who rushed forward to help, unloaded the stretcher with its patient. A haggard-looking Yunho held on to the hand of the person on the stretcher, his other hand gripping on to the sides of the stretcher so tightly that his knuckles were white.
And then Junsu’s eyes fell onto Yoochun.
The paramedic had terrible looking burns on his forearms, the skin charred and the flesh that exposed looked raw and painful. His entire left leg was a bloody mess, his pants torn and tattered. Junsu didn’t know whether to feel glad that Yoochun was currently unconscious; the pain would have been excruciating had he been awake.
He ran a few steps forward towards the other man, his heart wrenching when he saw Yoochun’s eyelids flutter for a while before they closed again, his feet suddenly feeling like they were glued to the ground. The team of doctors and nurses rushed past him quickly, and he watched as they disappeared into a theatre.
He placed a palm over his chest, trying to calm his pounding heart, trying not to think about how he was just speaking to Yoochun earlier that morning.
It’s alright, he’ll be okay. It’s probably nothing more than just a few burns, he’s probably asleep because he was given anesthesia or something-
He has to be okay.
Junsu bit his lip to the point where it almost bled. Who’s going to irritate me if something bad happens to him?
~*~
The doors of the operating theatre swung open to let one lone figure out before they swung close again with a sigh.
Changmin stepped out into the corridor, his heart filled with relief. Relief that his hyung was not in serious danger, relief that he had not needed to perform any surgery on Yoochun. It felt like a dam in his mind had just been broken and the water was free to flow as it wanted. Shiwon had told him that he could step outside if he wanted and that was exactly what the young doctor had done, knowing that he would have just stood there like a block of wood, being more of a hindrance than a help.
If something serious had really befallen his hyung, he would not have known what he would have done.
He spotted familiar figures at a wall on the far end of the A & E centre, quickly striding, his long legs eating up the distance quickly. Leeteuk and Kangin’s heads snapped up quickly, their bodies immediately tensing up.
“Is he alright?”
Changmin looked at Leeteuk before heaving a sigh, his lips curling up slightly. “He’ll be fine, it’s not as bad as it looks. The reason why he was losing consciousness was because he was suffering from a mild concussion due to head trauma.” Changmin ran through his brain, trying to remember the other injuries that his hyung sustained and what Shiwon had said about them. “He had serious second-degree burns on his forearms, and a few cuts here and there, but thankfully the burns weren’t third-degree so they probably wouldn’t leave permanent scarring.” He paused. “His left leg is slightly more complicated though. It’s a simple fracture, the bone split into two neat pieces, but unfortunately it’s open as well. There’s a piece of bone jutting out of his leg.”
He grinned slightly as Jaejoong seemed to blanch at the description. The others remained passive, it was what they were used to everyday.
“So after Shiwon fixes him up it’ll be a few months in physiotherapy. He’ll probably have to be warded for a while to recover till he can at least move about on his own on crutches.” Changmin finally concluded the report. “So…anyone want to tell me what my idiotic hyung did that resulted in all this?”
Yunho did not attempt to change his position on the floor, the paramedic trying to wipe away his tears of relief in an attempt to regain his manly image. “He dashed into the school building because the teachers couldn’t find Yoohwan.” Yunho stopped to smile as Jaejoong helped to wipe a stray tear off his cheek.
Changmin frowned. “Where is Yoohwan now?”
Yunho bit his lip. “I don’t know, but I don’t think he was in the building, the teachers were pretty sure that they managed to evacuate everyone. I’ve tried calling his cell but it’s not turned on-”
“Hyung,” Junsu’s voice interrupted the conversation abruptly, pointing to the entrance of the hospital. “Is that him?”
The other five men looked up to see a disheveled figure looking around frantically, a messenger bag slung haphazardly across one shoulder. He looked remarkably like Yoochun, the two brothers having almost the same build, the same nose and the same eyes with long lashes. His hair was in a mess, and his hand was currently making it messier, his fingers almost tearing it out in obvious fruastration.
Yunho rose like a monster emerging from the depths of the sea, standing up with renewed vigour.
“PAARRKKK YOOOOHWAAANNN!!!”
Leeteuk, Kangin and Changmin winced as Yunho’s enraged yell resonated down the corridors of the hospital. Jaejoong’s eyes widened. Junsu blinked.
Yoohwan stopped dead in his tracks, his hand grabbing on to the sling of his bag tightly, unsure of whether to run away.
Yunho marched over, his eyes focused with an almost deadly intent. He stood before Yoohwan, his tall frame easily dwarfing the younger boy’s. Yoohwan grinned uncertainly, raising one hand in peace.
“Hi, hyung-”
The boy barely had time to finish his greeting before he was locked in a tight embrace.
“…thank goodness you’re alright.” Yunho murmured, his hand ruffling the younger boy’s hair. “I was so worried something might have happened to you, you and your brother are so stupid…”
Yoohwan awkwardly patted his back, trying not to get squished into Yunho’s chest. “I’m fine, hyung.”
They remained like that for a few more seconds, before Yunho released him as abruptly as he had hugged him.
“Now that that’s done…” his eyes gleamed dangerously. Reaching one hand out he twisted the younger boy’s ear till he yelped. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”
~*~
Yoochun was dreaming.
Any other average, ordinary person who had Yoochun’s current worries and state of mind would be dreaming of something emo or vaguely significant to their dire situations in the land of the conscious. But no. Park Yoochun was never one to abide by the rules. Breaking convention was his style.
His dream was…absurd, to say the least.
In his dream, Changmin was sitting on a lily pad.
To be exact, Changmin was sitting on a lily pad in a gigantic bathtub filled with colourful bubbles, trying to teach him something about rubber ducks.
“Yoochun hyung!” Changmin’s annoyed voice echoed off the tiles on the wall of the bathroom. Yoochun guiltily looked up from staring at a soap bubble. “Pay attention, I’m trying to teach you something important here!”
Yoochun was about to apologize when the surface of the bubbly water broke, a submarine emerging. The hull of the submarine opened to reveal Yunho, decked out in military gear. He saluted Changmin before he started looking around, as if trying to find something.
“Min, you wouldn’t have happened to see your Jaejoong hyung around here somewhere, would you?”
“Hyung, I’m in the middle of something important!” Changmin’s voice was flat and irritated. “The last time I saw him he was beside the bar of soap or something.”
“Oh really?” Yunho’s face brightened. “Thanks!”
With that the hull was shut again and the submarine submerged back into the water.
Yoochun blinked.
“Okay, eyes here please!” Changmin gestured to a rubber duck floating nearby. “Yoochun hyung, this concerns your destiny!”
“My what?”
“Destiny, destiny!” Changmin repeated impatiently. Leaning over his lily pad to grab at the duck, he turned it around and pointed. “There. What I wanted to tell you is…ducks float because of this.”
Yoochun stared, feeling his eyebrow twitch. “Their butts?”
“You got it!” Changmin clapped his hands in excitement. “I knew you weren’t all that stupid!”
“Thanks.” Yoochun paused. “I think.”
“Anyway,” Changmin continued. “You need to understand that it is with this that your destiny is entwined.”
Yoochun tilted his head in confusion. “With duck butts?”
Changmin made squinty eyes, nodding sagely and mysteriously. “Precisely.”
“I don’t get it, this dream is ridiculous-”
As soon as Yoochun said those words, he felt himself being pulled, as if someone had removed the stopper and the water in the bathtub was beginning to drain. He looked to Changmin to shout for help but the other just kept pointing insistently at the duck.
And that was the last bizarre image in his mind before Yoochun woke up.
~*~
They had all managed to squeeze themselves into the single ward that Yoochun had been placed in, with Kangin hogging the remote, channel-flipping while the television was muted so as not to disturb the ward’s resting patient.
Changmin leaned over the bed, clipboard in hand, making sure that the drips attached to Yoochun’s wrists were flowing properly. Below him, Yoochun wrinkled his nose.
“…Changmin…”
The young doctor jolted away with a shock, attracting the attention of the others in the room. Changmin approached Yoochun slowly, his tone gentle and soft. “Hyung? Are you awake?”
Yoochun frowned, his head turning to the side, as if he were caught in the throes of a nightmare. “Changmin…”
“I’m here, hyung-”
Yoochun frowned once more, but this time with a hint of confusion. “…butt?”
There was a silence in the room, before…
“I did NOT just hear Yoochun hyung perving on me.”
Kangin chortled with laughter from his space on the small couch in the room.
Changmin hit him with his clipboard.
Just as he was contemplating removing his stethoscope to use it to strangle his hyung who wouldn’t stop laughing, a soft groan was heard from the bed.
Everyone stopped moving to look in the same direction.
Yoochun’s eyes opened the tiniest fraction, squinting and frowning as he tried to adjust to the harsh glare of the hospital lights. His vision was foggy and he felt like someone had tried to roll his brain into a kimbap. The first thing he saw was a vague outline of someone who appeared to have a lion’s mane.
“Hyung? Are you awake? How do you feel?”
Yoochu gave a small cough, his voice rough and raspy. “Min…you need a haircut.”
He watched with mild surprise and amusement as the doctor gave a relieved smile, scribbling something on his clipboard. “Patient shows no sign of further brain damage.”
Leeteuk raised an eyebrow. “Further brain damage?”
“Yoochun hyung’s been losing IQ since he was three, unfortunately.”
“I’m still here, you know.” Yoochun said flatly, his throat itchy and uncomfortable. He tried raising a hand, only to find that it hurt like hell and he had tubes sticking out of his arm. “Water…please?”
Yoochun suddenly felt a gentle arm behind his back, a glass of water placed delicately at his lips. He drank hungrily but at a steady pace, taking care not to choke himself. The hand guiding the glass tilted it slowly, helping Yoochun to drink with ease. When he finally finished and looked up to thank the person, his eyes widened, realizing who it was.
“…Junsu…”
The nurse laid him back onto the bed gently, taking care not to brush against his injured forearms, fluffing his pillows and making sure he was comfortable. Yoochun’s eyes remained on the nurse as he stepped back to give him more room.
“Thanks.”
Junsu shuffled a little, before pointing to the vase at Yoochun’s bedside. “I put those back here; I think you need them more than I do.”
Yoochun turned to see the three familiar-looking sunflowers sticking out of a baby blue vase, before turning back to fix his eyes on Junsu again. “But…but these are supposed to be for you…”
Junsu felt a hot flush creeping up his neck under the collar of his uniform. “I…just take them as a present from me, okay?”
Jaejoong, who had been watching the entire exchange from the side, smiled a little too happily. “It’s alright, Yoochun, he can get more flowers from me later.” He moved closer to the bedside. “Right now you just have to concentrate on getting well.”
“I…” Yoochun stopped, his eyes glued to a spot on the wall. Hold on…
He suddenly panicked, almost jumping out of the bed only to wince in pain as the movement stretched his raw injuries and put pressure on his fractured leg. Junsu quickly rushed forward with a soft cry and tried to push him back onto his bed.
“Yoochun, what are you doing-”
“Where’s Yoohwan?” Yoochun was slowly descending into a frenzy, his brain suddenly cluttered with refreshed memories. “I…I couldn’t find him in the school building, I looked for him everywhere! Has he called? Have you called my mom? Is he with her-”
“Yoochun!” Junsu looked at him with worry. “Calm down, you can’t take this kind of stress right now…”
Yoochun attempted to get up again, gritting his teeth as he aggravated his injuries, his head pounding with a steady rhythm. “I have to find him!”
“Stop it!” Junsu said firmly, using one hand to push Yoochun’s chest down, mindful of his injured limbs. “Don’t worry,” his tone became soothing. “He’s outside with Yunho hyung.”
Kangin got up from the couch, ready to hold Yoochun down if he resisted further, while Leeteuk made for the door. “I’ll tell them you’re awake and ask them to come in-”
Just then the door swung open and Yunho entered, pulling Yoohwan in by his ear. His eyes seemed to settle immediately on Yoochun, quickly releasing Yoohwan’s ear and rushing forward. “Yoochun, you’re awake!”
Yoochun gave a weak smile to his hyung as he was engulfed in a hug, feeling his hyung’s immense relief washing through him, but at the same time, never letting his eyes leave the figure standing at the door, motionless. After Yunho had released him, he raised both arms towards his brother, his mind temporarily ignoring the pain.
“Yoohwan.”
“H-hyung…” Yoohwan shuffled forward slowly. “Is it okay…I mean, are you alright-”
Yoochun never let his gaze fall. “Come here.”
He took his younger brother into his arms, wrapping them tightly around the smaller frame, making the boy squeak. “Hyung, watch out! I’m pressing against your bandages-”
Yoochun choked. “Just shut up for a moment, will you?”
The others in the room smiled, watching the scene with a slight awkwardness, feeling as if the moment was one that was special and private, one that they were not meant to witness.
“You made me so worried, you know?”
A guilty look flashed across Yoohwan’s face. “I’m sorry, hyung, I’m so sorry, you can get mad at me-”
Yoochun pushed his brother back slightly, tiredness slowly seeping through his body. “’I’ll deal with that later.” He let Yoohwan lay him back onto the pillows as he blinked slowly, trying to fight off the sleepiness that was attacking him.
Yoohwan turned to Changmin. “Hyung, he’s going to be fine right?” He looked worriedly at Yoochun’s bandanged arms and the leg which was set in a heavy cast. “I mean…he’ll be back to normal in no time, right?”
Changmin frowned. “I don’t know…it depends on what you define as normal.”
Yoohwan’s eyes widened. “You mean…”
“The burns on his arms…” Changmin shook his head. “There’s not enough skin left to work with. We may need to get skin grafts from his butt.”
Yoochun, who had been on the verge of falling asleep, nearly leapt up in shock. “WHAT?!”
“It was a joke! I was joking!” Changmin said hastily, patting his hyung’s shoulder. “Get some sleep, you look terrible. If you saw your reflection you’d think it was a promotional poster for King Kong or something.”
Yoochun wanted to tell Changmin to compare him to something more macho and at least, more human, like the Hulk, but he felt his eyelids closing faster than he wanted them to. With a sleepy “good night” and a last look at Yoohwan’s face to assure himself that he was safe, Yoochun fell asleep with a tender smile on his face, dreaming of ducks and bubble butts.
end of chapter nine.
A/N: this chapter really felt weird, writing angst is weird D: I was feeling happy and perfectly sadistic when I started writing the chapter, but as it dragged along fluff creeped in somehow >.< heheh.
sorry this took longish, the whole month of august was occupied with prelims and whatnot, and after a week of writing and stopping and writing and stopping I finally got one chapter out ^^;;; though I felt it was a really awkward chapter. hopefully the coming chapters would be better, with more light-hearted scenes (of course with more Yoosu! can you see the situation I’ve put them in ^o^)
I’ve been thinking of a plot for a new fic, but I’m not so sure if I should start it now, because of exams and such, which would probably delay updates like I’m doing with suad now. But if I manage to plan it out really well then maybe you guys would be able to see it soon :D
thank you so much for all your patience! I’m sorry if this chapter sucks T_T let me know what you think honestly <333 replies may come a bit slow because of school, but I’ll try my best! sorry to those who commented on the previous chapter but didn’t get replies, by the time I actually had time to reply there was really no point, since 2 weeks had passed D: