Triple the dosage of Shihan
I was planning to have a triple send off of Shihan as a farewell to summer, but the third fic is in the process of editing, so have some forced fanart instead!
First is yet another part of the endless fic challenge/exchange between myself and the one who doesn't sleep, wobaozhewo. This time, it's based off of milkpoet's prompt #14.
Title: Smoke Drift
Pairing: Shihan
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue
“Take me out tonight.”
That is his plea as he grabs onto the hand of the boy in front of him.
“Take me anywhere, I don’t care,” he continues, a slight incline of desperation coloring his words as he stares unabashedly at the boy in front of him. He is young, as evident by the rounded edges of childhood his face still holds, but his body, all long limbs and awkward angles like a young colt, strains a little as he tries to temper down his excitement at the thought of independence that’s just a little out of his reach.
He chooses to latch onto the hand of this particular boy not simply because the boy is the one closest in age to himself, though that fact helps. Across the wide expanse of the village square, festooned with bright colors in preparation for today’s street fair, they make eye contact. What spurs him into action is the very warm reception he receives from those gentle brown eyes.
Siwon knows without a doubt that this boy would never cheat him. He knows the other boy would not swindle him nor purposely trap him. He knows this just as well as he knows that the boy would make do on his request and take him elsewhere tonight.
Siwon wants to go somewhere far away, somewhere where he didn’t have to be the responsible child he was reared to be. He wants to go somewhere far from his lessons, somewhere free from rules and go to a place where he could laugh and have fun and just be a normal kid for a change. He wants to go somewhere where if he looked up, the stars that shine there would be brighter than any other place he had ever been to.
The other boy stares at their joined hands, his own eyes bright and swirling with the images of all the secret places he had been to and seen. He looks back up Siwon’s pleading face and nods once before squeezing their interlaced hands as he starts to lead the way.
***
“This is it,” Siwon thinks. “This is it,” his body repeats, crying up triumphantly as he follows the other boy down narrow alleyways and up wide, garbage scattered streets.
He had spent the majority of his life here, but he wonders why was it now, as his feet scamper to keep pace with the long legged boy in front of him, did the worn cobblestones feel so new, so unfamiliar.
The other boy does not let go of his hand, and Siwon feels him pull him along as he leads them effortlessly towards a new destination.
They pass under an overhead, its thick, deep shadows shrouding over them like a veil as they scurry underneath it. Distantly, Siwon can hear the endless prater of the townsfolk; the women speaking about their own affairs and the men blithely going on about profit as their voices clash together and create a small din in Siwon’s ears.
Suddenly, he stops, tugging the hand that holds his own back, as a strange fear starts to claw inside of him.
He looks into the face of the boy who brought him here, the boy who is going to take him out tonight, no questions asked, and said, “I’m sorry…I c-can’t,” his voice breaking as he stumbles over the last word.
The other boy looks at him, his eyes filled with an emotion that Siwon can’t place. Is it anger? Disappointment? Expectancy?
Siwon can’t bear to look anymore. Burdened by the weight of his own guilt, he shakes off the hand that had held his all this time and turns, fleeing in the direction he had come from.
He runs back to the place he thought he could escape from, back to the place where his responsibilities and duties shackled him better than any fetters ever could.
Siwon runs.
***
Years later, as world-renowned model Choi Siwon takes a break between photo shoots, he wonders if he had squandered away that chance, his chance, all those years ago.
Sitting near the front of the house set, Siwon stares at the flimsy screen door in front of him until the black outlines of thinly threaded mesh start to blur and melt together. It is the only barely-there deterrent that separates the safety of routine from all unknown possibilities of chance and he wonders what is stopping him from just getting up and leaving.
He looks at the cigarette that he’s holding in between two fingers as it slowly burns, its smoke rising above him in a sultry incandescent color and floating away to worlds that Siwon would never know about.
It was just a prop, a set prop to be sure, but had he run away with the boy, would he be smoking with comfortable ease now, and not just pretending he could?
If he had run away with that boy all those years ago, would he still have studied law like the good little boy he was, and go on to take his predestined place at the prestigious law firm that bore his father’s power and influence everywhere he looked?
If he had followed that boy, would he still have begged his mother to allow him this one summer of freedom? Would he still have asked her to allow him to pretend to be someone he could have been but wasn’t just for this brief lapse of time? Would he have gone to all the places he always said he’d go if only he wasn’t so afraid to take that first unsteady step?
“Breaks over in five!” An assistant hollers to everyone within hearing range.
Siwon quickly rises, brushing the dust off the back of his pants as he puts out the prop cigarette.
“Oh Siwon,” the assistant tells him as he reappears on set, “They’re changing photographers for the second half of the shoot and the director wants you to meet him.”
Siwon nods his acquiescence and obediently follows behind the diminutive sized assistant.
“Siwon!” The directly shouts as he heartily claps him on the back, “Come meet our new photographer, Hangeng!”
His hand automatically reaches out to grasp and shake the new photographer’s hand and he watches almost mesmerized, at the sight of his own reflection cast back at him from the brown eyes of the other man.
A man, Siwon knows almost without a doubt would never swindle him nor blame him, but would remember things with his clear empathic eyes and with legs, long like Siwon’s memories remind him, always ready to travel to places.
“Choi Siwon, I assume,” the other man says with a hint of an accent found only in a small village where a certain boy tried futilely to escape from.
The director asks Siwon to give Hangeng a quick tour of the set as they’re short on workers today and Siwon agrees. He goes about his duty, reciting things and names with a slight wince as he hears his own mispronunciation, but Hangeng remains silent, never showing if he’d heard.
Eventually, they find themselves back at the inside of the house where Siwon had been resting mere minutes before.
“Siwon,” Hangeng says, breaking both his silence and rivers of words that rush forth from Siwon’s mouth. “I won’t ask you why you left all those years ago, but I will ask you this. Will you run away again?” he challenges, defiance clear in both his tone and in the glint of his eyes as he pushes open the flimsy screen door left ajar.
“No,” Siwon says determined. “No,” he repeats as he grabs Hangeng’s hand and sprints out the door, towards freedom.
Take me out tonight
Take me anywhere, I dont care
I dont care, I dont care
And in the darkened underpass
I thought oh god, my chance has come at last
(But then a strange fear gripped me and I
Just couldnt ask)
- The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Up next, a Shihan teaser.
Continue
And last, fanart from wobaozhewo :D! I don't care what she says, I think it's insanely adorable. It's taken from Week Two of my shihanaday drabbles, based off shihanaday June 23rd - 158 entry.
First is yet another part of the endless fic challenge/exchange between myself and the one who doesn't sleep, wobaozhewo. This time, it's based off of milkpoet's prompt #14.
Title: Smoke Drift
Pairing: Shihan
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue
“Take me out tonight.”
That is his plea as he grabs onto the hand of the boy in front of him.
“Take me anywhere, I don’t care,” he continues, a slight incline of desperation coloring his words as he stares unabashedly at the boy in front of him. He is young, as evident by the rounded edges of childhood his face still holds, but his body, all long limbs and awkward angles like a young colt, strains a little as he tries to temper down his excitement at the thought of independence that’s just a little out of his reach.
He chooses to latch onto the hand of this particular boy not simply because the boy is the one closest in age to himself, though that fact helps. Across the wide expanse of the village square, festooned with bright colors in preparation for today’s street fair, they make eye contact. What spurs him into action is the very warm reception he receives from those gentle brown eyes.
Siwon knows without a doubt that this boy would never cheat him. He knows the other boy would not swindle him nor purposely trap him. He knows this just as well as he knows that the boy would make do on his request and take him elsewhere tonight.
Siwon wants to go somewhere far away, somewhere where he didn’t have to be the responsible child he was reared to be. He wants to go somewhere far from his lessons, somewhere free from rules and go to a place where he could laugh and have fun and just be a normal kid for a change. He wants to go somewhere where if he looked up, the stars that shine there would be brighter than any other place he had ever been to.
The other boy stares at their joined hands, his own eyes bright and swirling with the images of all the secret places he had been to and seen. He looks back up Siwon’s pleading face and nods once before squeezing their interlaced hands as he starts to lead the way.
***
“This is it,” Siwon thinks. “This is it,” his body repeats, crying up triumphantly as he follows the other boy down narrow alleyways and up wide, garbage scattered streets.
He had spent the majority of his life here, but he wonders why was it now, as his feet scamper to keep pace with the long legged boy in front of him, did the worn cobblestones feel so new, so unfamiliar.
The other boy does not let go of his hand, and Siwon feels him pull him along as he leads them effortlessly towards a new destination.
They pass under an overhead, its thick, deep shadows shrouding over them like a veil as they scurry underneath it. Distantly, Siwon can hear the endless prater of the townsfolk; the women speaking about their own affairs and the men blithely going on about profit as their voices clash together and create a small din in Siwon’s ears.
Suddenly, he stops, tugging the hand that holds his own back, as a strange fear starts to claw inside of him.
He looks into the face of the boy who brought him here, the boy who is going to take him out tonight, no questions asked, and said, “I’m sorry…I c-can’t,” his voice breaking as he stumbles over the last word.
The other boy looks at him, his eyes filled with an emotion that Siwon can’t place. Is it anger? Disappointment? Expectancy?
Siwon can’t bear to look anymore. Burdened by the weight of his own guilt, he shakes off the hand that had held his all this time and turns, fleeing in the direction he had come from.
He runs back to the place he thought he could escape from, back to the place where his responsibilities and duties shackled him better than any fetters ever could.
Siwon runs.
***
Years later, as world-renowned model Choi Siwon takes a break between photo shoots, he wonders if he had squandered away that chance, his chance, all those years ago.
Sitting near the front of the house set, Siwon stares at the flimsy screen door in front of him until the black outlines of thinly threaded mesh start to blur and melt together. It is the only barely-there deterrent that separates the safety of routine from all unknown possibilities of chance and he wonders what is stopping him from just getting up and leaving.
He looks at the cigarette that he’s holding in between two fingers as it slowly burns, its smoke rising above him in a sultry incandescent color and floating away to worlds that Siwon would never know about.
It was just a prop, a set prop to be sure, but had he run away with the boy, would he be smoking with comfortable ease now, and not just pretending he could?
If he had run away with that boy all those years ago, would he still have studied law like the good little boy he was, and go on to take his predestined place at the prestigious law firm that bore his father’s power and influence everywhere he looked?
If he had followed that boy, would he still have begged his mother to allow him this one summer of freedom? Would he still have asked her to allow him to pretend to be someone he could have been but wasn’t just for this brief lapse of time? Would he have gone to all the places he always said he’d go if only he wasn’t so afraid to take that first unsteady step?
“Breaks over in five!” An assistant hollers to everyone within hearing range.
Siwon quickly rises, brushing the dust off the back of his pants as he puts out the prop cigarette.
“Oh Siwon,” the assistant tells him as he reappears on set, “They’re changing photographers for the second half of the shoot and the director wants you to meet him.”
Siwon nods his acquiescence and obediently follows behind the diminutive sized assistant.
“Siwon!” The directly shouts as he heartily claps him on the back, “Come meet our new photographer, Hangeng!”
His hand automatically reaches out to grasp and shake the new photographer’s hand and he watches almost mesmerized, at the sight of his own reflection cast back at him from the brown eyes of the other man.
A man, Siwon knows almost without a doubt would never swindle him nor blame him, but would remember things with his clear empathic eyes and with legs, long like Siwon’s memories remind him, always ready to travel to places.
“Choi Siwon, I assume,” the other man says with a hint of an accent found only in a small village where a certain boy tried futilely to escape from.
The director asks Siwon to give Hangeng a quick tour of the set as they’re short on workers today and Siwon agrees. He goes about his duty, reciting things and names with a slight wince as he hears his own mispronunciation, but Hangeng remains silent, never showing if he’d heard.
Eventually, they find themselves back at the inside of the house where Siwon had been resting mere minutes before.
“Siwon,” Hangeng says, breaking both his silence and rivers of words that rush forth from Siwon’s mouth. “I won’t ask you why you left all those years ago, but I will ask you this. Will you run away again?” he challenges, defiance clear in both his tone and in the glint of his eyes as he pushes open the flimsy screen door left ajar.
“No,” Siwon says determined. “No,” he repeats as he grabs Hangeng’s hand and sprints out the door, towards freedom.
Take me out tonight
Take me anywhere, I dont care
I dont care, I dont care
And in the darkened underpass
I thought oh god, my chance has come at last
(But then a strange fear gripped me and I
Just couldnt ask)
- The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Up next, a Shihan teaser.
Continue
And last, fanart from wobaozhewo :D! I don't care what she says, I think it's insanely adorable. It's taken from Week Two of my shihanaday drabbles, based off shihanaday June 23rd - 158 entry.