Re: i don't want to get over you [2/5]
anonymous
July 10 2012, 19:57:00 UTC
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By the time the vans start, Junmyeon isn't laughing. Baekhyun falls asleep on Jongdae's shoulder the minute they hit the highway, but wakes up with a start halfway through the ride. "Hey, are we-hey," he says, squinting up at Jongdae's face. "Sorry for falling asleep on your shoulder."
"Why are you apologizing?" Jongdae laughs.
"Usually it's rude to fall asleep on a stranger," Baekhyun says. In the stunned silence that follows, he brushes off Jongdae's shirt shyly, looks around."Hey, I think I might-you're Junmyeon, right?" he says with a friendly wave in Junmyeon's direction.
"Is this some prank that Chanyeol thought up?" Jongin asks, leaning over the back of Jongdae's seat to prod Baekhyun on the shoulder. "You can tell us. We won't admit you spilled the secret."
Baekhyun blinks at them all, smile faltering. "Who's Chanyeol?" he says.
His voice is too loud. Junmyeon thinks of the first time they met, how Baekhyun's voice filled the room during their introductions. Would make a good vocalist, Junmyeon had thought. Loud enough for a stadium of fans, for any faulty sound system, loud enough to reach everyone, and still sound good. It reaches him now, too clear for mistakes. Baekhyun stares back at his bandmates, hesitant, wanting to please, and Junmyeon wishes he could tell Baekhyun what to do that would make it better. He wishes he knew what was going on. He wishes-
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It works systematically. By the time they get to the dorms, six months are gone. By dinner, the last year are gone. Baekhyun treats Junmyeon's insistence that they're SM's newest boyband with good-natured suspicion. Chanyeol gets Jongin and Baekhyun to sit down and play video games with him, to break up the tension, but he laughs only half-heartedly, and mostly with Jongin, whom he still remembers. Kris disappears into the EXO-M dorms with Lu Han and Yixing for a pow-wow. When they emerge, Kris is brooding, and Lu Han asks Sehun if his teaser has been released yet. Kyungsoo goes to get dinner. They sit, awkwardly silent over plates of fried chicken. Eventually Jongin just gets up, dumps his uneaten food in the trash, and vanishes into the dance studio. He and Yixing stay there until 2AM, until they no longer remember their routines. When Minseok wakes up in the morning, he's unable to communicate with Tao, who has lost all his Korean. "You should have made a 'call me oppa' joke," Junmyeon tells him over breakfast, trying for levity, but Minseok just stares at him blankly. No one remembers except for Junmyeon, and he's not the kind to laugh at his own jokes.
Six hours: a full year. The second day: two years. The end of the week: a full three years. It tapers off after that. Jongdae sketches a curved line approaching a penciled "4 years?" mark on a Post-It note. Junmyeon finds it in the trash the next day, folds it into little squares, and flushes it down the toilet. He alone speaks to their managers for the first week, trying to head off the eventual discovery, but on Friday Kyungsoo disappears from the building, doesn't answer their calls, and their manager finds him hours later milling by his old high school, looking for a way to get in. Kyungsoo doesn't recognize their manager, of course. "You're from SM?" he had asked. Then, "What's that?", just like it was 2010 and he was being scouted all over again.
A week later SM makes a quiet announcement that both EXO-K and EXO-M are taking some time off to focus on their album. They act as if there will still be a comeback, but by then Tao and Baekhyun have already gone home. Junmyeon keeps counting the days until it's his turn.
He's not sure he's grateful that his turn never comes.
By the time the vans start, Junmyeon isn't laughing. Baekhyun falls asleep on Jongdae's shoulder the minute they hit the highway, but wakes up with a start halfway through the ride. "Hey, are we-hey," he says, squinting up at Jongdae's face. "Sorry for falling asleep on your shoulder."
"Why are you apologizing?" Jongdae laughs.
"Usually it's rude to fall asleep on a stranger," Baekhyun says. In the stunned silence that follows, he brushes off Jongdae's shirt shyly, looks around."Hey, I think I might-you're Junmyeon, right?" he says with a friendly wave in Junmyeon's direction.
"Is this some prank that Chanyeol thought up?" Jongin asks, leaning over the back of Jongdae's seat to prod Baekhyun on the shoulder. "You can tell us. We won't admit you spilled the secret."
Baekhyun blinks at them all, smile faltering. "Who's Chanyeol?" he says.
His voice is too loud. Junmyeon thinks of the first time they met, how Baekhyun's voice filled the room during their introductions. Would make a good vocalist, Junmyeon had thought. Loud enough for a stadium of fans, for any faulty sound system, loud enough to reach everyone, and still sound good. It reaches him now, too clear for mistakes. Baekhyun stares back at his bandmates, hesitant, wanting to please, and Junmyeon wishes he could tell Baekhyun what to do that would make it better. He wishes he knew what was going on. He wishes-
-
It works systematically. By the time they get to the dorms, six months are gone. By dinner, the last year are gone. Baekhyun treats Junmyeon's insistence that they're SM's newest boyband with good-natured suspicion. Chanyeol gets Jongin and Baekhyun to sit down and play video games with him, to break up the tension, but he laughs only half-heartedly, and mostly with Jongin, whom he still remembers. Kris disappears into the EXO-M dorms with Lu Han and Yixing for a pow-wow. When they emerge, Kris is brooding, and Lu Han asks Sehun if his teaser has been released yet. Kyungsoo goes to get dinner. They sit, awkwardly silent over plates of fried chicken. Eventually Jongin just gets up, dumps his uneaten food in the trash, and vanishes into the dance studio. He and Yixing stay there until 2AM, until they no longer remember their routines. When Minseok wakes up in the morning, he's unable to communicate with Tao, who has lost all his Korean. "You should have made a 'call me oppa' joke," Junmyeon tells him over breakfast, trying for levity, but Minseok just stares at him blankly. No one remembers except for Junmyeon, and he's not the kind to laugh at his own jokes.
Six hours: a full year. The second day: two years. The end of the week: a full three years. It tapers off after that. Jongdae sketches a curved line approaching a penciled "4 years?" mark on a Post-It note. Junmyeon finds it in the trash the next day, folds it into little squares, and flushes it down the toilet. He alone speaks to their managers for the first week, trying to head off the eventual discovery, but on Friday Kyungsoo disappears from the building, doesn't answer their calls, and their manager finds him hours later milling by his old high school, looking for a way to get in. Kyungsoo doesn't recognize their manager, of course. "You're from SM?" he had asked. Then, "What's that?", just like it was 2010 and he was being scouted all over again.
A week later SM makes a quiet announcement that both EXO-K and EXO-M are taking some time off to focus on their album. They act as if there will still be a comeback, but by then Tao and Baekhyun have already gone home. Junmyeon keeps counting the days until it's his turn.
He's not sure he's grateful that his turn never comes.
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