FIC: Super Junior, In The Center Of The Ring
Title: In The Center of The Ring
Fandom: Super Junior
Pairing: Gen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1733
Summary: The logical thing to do when kicked out of your home is to run away to the circus.
Notes: Uh. This was never supposed to be, but it is. Like, a prequel to Saving the World, with less crack and fun. Thank you Dec, for holding my hand through pretty much all of this, and letting me use it to get birthday fic out of you.
The teacher who runs homeroom phones again, and Sungmin’s dad is still talking to them when he gets home. He's been getting a lot of these phone calls lately and he maintains that it's because the teacher hates him. It couldn’t have anything to do with how he sneaks other underage students into bars, and cheats them out of money playing darts, because nobody else really knows about that. It’s something he’s good at, so he uses it to his advantage.
The main reason though, he suspects, is because the teachr caught him behind the equipment shed with another male student, and his teacher doesn’t like that. This time the call is different, this time they’ve expelled him, and his dad tells him to get out, so he leaves happily.
He stays with Sooyoung, his grade six girlfriend. They’ve been best friends since forever, and he likes to tell people (when he tells people) that she is the reason he doesn’t like girls. She drags him to her yoga classes after work, but he ends up being better at it than she is, so she doesn’t bother after a while. He finds out later that the cute instructor was more interested in him than her.
He’s sixteen, and working in a supermarket for a lady who pays him more than he deserves, when he meets Heechul. He’s the most glamorous person to step through the doors since Sungmin was hired. Definitely not one of the local boys, so Sungmin goes over and pretends to be sweet and polite.
“Can I help you find what you’re looking for?” the boy stares at him like he’s weird, which makes Sungmin adopt the same look. “Do you need help?” he repeats slowly, just in case.
“I’m not stupid, asshole.” He stalks off to the produce section, and Sungmin is immediately impressed. Not many people can tell when Sungmin is being a jerk, because he has the sweetest smile, and everything that comes out of his mouth is sugar coated. He follows, lurking around as the other man picks out lettuce, and a variety of other fruits and vegetables.
“I’m Sungmin.” he finally says, because he feels like they have something in common.
“And I care why?” the stranger asks, dropping a bag of apples into his cart.
“Because I’m pretty interesting compared to everyone else here.” he says smoothly, tilting his head non-threateningly. The other mans snorts and continues on his way.
“That’s not saying much, since your competition seems to be the local priest.” He looks up, and Sungmin pouts. “God, I’m Heechul. Can you stop following me?” Heechul can be forgiven for not knowing how persistent he is, because they’ve only just met. Although, he doesn’t seem at all surprised when Sungmin follows him to his hotel, and cuts his shift at work short.
---
Heechul is the coolest person Sungmin has ever met, but he doesn’t tell him that, because it’s not like he needs to hear it. Kibum, Heechul’s ‘friend’, is super quiet, but he has that whole mysterious look going for him. However, ten minutes spent in his company proves that he is just as insane as Heechul.
“You’ll never believe what his dad does for a living!” Heechul says, and he almost sounds like he’s talking about his own father, for how proud he is. “He’s a ring master! Like, for a circus!” Sungmin is pretty sure he’s never heard Heechul so enthusiastic, and he’s heard Heechul a lot in their short friendship. The announcement does make sense, their arrival coinciding with the travelling circus that arrived on the same day, and Sungmin wonders what kind of circus it is.
“Well, that’s exciting. I haven’t been to a circus since I was really little.” Kibum smiles and Sungmin can say that he has, without a doubt, one of the prettiest smiles ever.
“So, can you do anything circus worthy?” Sungmin assumes the question is just for fun, and he tells them the yoga story. He has no idea that there’s more to it than that.
---
They’ve been in town for about a week, and Sungmin still hasn’t had a chance to see a performance, but he’s got a ticket for the next show. It’s night, and the big top is lit up, a beacon to the children in the city. It’s their last night there, and Heechul had given him one ticket, and sent him off to work. He had no idea that Sungmin had been fired for skipping his shifts.
Under the big, cliché red and white tent, its dark, which means he’s right on time, and he makes his way carefully to his seat. There’s a big ring in the center, but Sungmin’s attention is caught when someone shoves a bag of popcorn in his face.
“Heechul thought you weren’t coming, so he’s sulking in the back.” Kibum says evenly, his eyes on something in the dark. “I heard you got fired.”
“It was just a job.” Sungmin shrugs, though he’s not sure where to apply next. A spotlight makes its way to the center of the ring, and stops, focusing on a man who resembles Kibum. He’s wearing a tall, black top hat, and what looks like a bedazzled tailcoat. The children ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ as he introduces himself and even Sungmin claps when he disappears in a cloud of smoke, replaced with an enormous elephant.
He’s sure his eyes are glassy, and he watches with fascination when they wheel out a giant spinning board. A single man steps into the ring, and asks for a volunteer, calling out a seat number. Its Sungmin’s, and right then he knows Heechul and Kibum set him up, but he’s not scared of crowds, and so at Kibum’s insistent look, he joins the man up by the board.
“All you have to do is throw these at me!” he holds up a handful of sharp looking knives, and the crowd gasps. Sungmin stares at him. His aim is near perfect, he rarely ever misses, which is how he’d conned so many of his classmates out of their money. But he is a human being, and making a mistake at a crucial moment like this would be just his luck. Sungmin’s never done anything like this. The man hands him the knives, and assures him that he won’t be hurt, at all, and hands them over.
Some of the workers strap the man to the board, and it starts rotating. Sungmin looks at Kibum, wonders if he knows that Sungmin could probably do this with his eyes closed, or if this is really just some crazy stunt. Either way, he throws the first knife without any more distracting thoughts. It hits right above the man’s hair. The rest follow, six in total, and the man looks extremely relieved that he’s unscathed, which means that this was another part of Kibum’s plan.
“That was pretty circus worthy." Kibum says when he gets back to his seat. He can't find it in himself to be angry at them for playing with a human life. "I asked a couple of the students from the school. They told me you never missed. You should come with us.” Sungmin thinks about it, and how it would be the perfect ‘goodbye’ to the town he grew up in. He could be that kid who ran away to the circus, a role model to all the rebels. The thought makes him laugh, and he agrees, because he’s got nothing to stay for, not even Sooyoung, who gets a message on her answering machine for a goodbye.
---
“My dad’s dying.” Kibum tells Sungmin, a month after they’ve been on the road. He sounds so normal and Heechul has no reaction, so Sungmin ignores the fact that it’s a bit insensitive. He’s spent a month driving around in a vehicle with a dying man, and no one saw fit to tell him.
“Oh, should... I’m sorry?” they lapse into silence, not awkward because more than one of them would have to be at the same time. There’s no time to be sad, because the show is about to start, and Kibum’s dad has told them over and over that the show must go on. So the information processes, but Sungmin doesn’t get the rest of the story.
They’re gathered around the dinner table, and Sungmin is still attempting not to be awkward. He fails ten minutes later.
“Can one of you please tell me what is going on?” he sets down his fork, and looks across the table at Heechul, who rolls his eyes, and looks at Minseong.
“Ah, this. I have a tumour, cancer, you know. I suppose Kibum was playing up his very mysterious personality by not telling you anything. I have two years, at most.” Minseong continues eating, Kibum and Heechul haven’t even stopped, which leaves Sungmin to quickly run through the seven steps of grieving. “You handled that well. Now we can have dinner.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure. Dinner.”
---
A year later, Kibum inherits the tall, black top hat, and the show goes on.
---
To be honest the show stops for a while. Heechul is hell bent on keeping the circus going, but they need the main driver.
“You know, I’ve always wanted to be a lion tamer.” he says one morning, before they go out looking for some poor drifter who has a driver’s licence.
“And what qualifies you for this job?” Kibum asks, looking ridiculous in his hat, and eating a bowl of sugary cereal.
“Well, I almost got a degree in Zoology.”
“What do you mean almost?” Sungmin asks curiously. He’s never heard of anyone almost getting a zoology degree. It seems like one of those things you get, or you don't.
“Well, I thought about getting one once.” Sungmin throws a piece of toast at him, and they spend a few minutes cleaning butter out of Heechul’s unfortunate hair. “You know, we should just replace the whole staff. A younger, newer crew sounds nice.”
“We need a driver, not a whole new staff.” Kibum says, always practical, even at sixteen. He’s still got that adventurous side though. “Although... if we did it that way, we could make it our own kind of thing. A new kind of circus, you know?”
“I want lions.” Heechul says immediately, smirking at Sungmin. “And, I want one of those rings they jump through. You know, the ones that catch fire.”
“It could be like, how we initiate people!” Sungmin says enthusiastically. A knock on the door interrupts their whole conversation, and Sungmin goes to answer it. “Can I help you?” he asks as snottily as he can. The man straightens up and smiles.
“Hi, I saw your sign. You needed someone with a driver's license?” Sungmin nods, and Kibum and Heechul appear behind him. “I’m Eeteuk, nice to meet you!”
Fandom: Super Junior
Pairing: Gen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1733
Summary: The logical thing to do when kicked out of your home is to run away to the circus.
Notes: Uh. This was never supposed to be, but it is. Like, a prequel to Saving the World, with less crack and fun. Thank you Dec, for holding my hand through pretty much all of this, and letting me use it to get birthday fic out of you.
The teacher who runs homeroom phones again, and Sungmin’s dad is still talking to them when he gets home. He's been getting a lot of these phone calls lately and he maintains that it's because the teacher hates him. It couldn’t have anything to do with how he sneaks other underage students into bars, and cheats them out of money playing darts, because nobody else really knows about that. It’s something he’s good at, so he uses it to his advantage.
The main reason though, he suspects, is because the teachr caught him behind the equipment shed with another male student, and his teacher doesn’t like that. This time the call is different, this time they’ve expelled him, and his dad tells him to get out, so he leaves happily.
He stays with Sooyoung, his grade six girlfriend. They’ve been best friends since forever, and he likes to tell people (when he tells people) that she is the reason he doesn’t like girls. She drags him to her yoga classes after work, but he ends up being better at it than she is, so she doesn’t bother after a while. He finds out later that the cute instructor was more interested in him than her.
He’s sixteen, and working in a supermarket for a lady who pays him more than he deserves, when he meets Heechul. He’s the most glamorous person to step through the doors since Sungmin was hired. Definitely not one of the local boys, so Sungmin goes over and pretends to be sweet and polite.
“Can I help you find what you’re looking for?” the boy stares at him like he’s weird, which makes Sungmin adopt the same look. “Do you need help?” he repeats slowly, just in case.
“I’m not stupid, asshole.” He stalks off to the produce section, and Sungmin is immediately impressed. Not many people can tell when Sungmin is being a jerk, because he has the sweetest smile, and everything that comes out of his mouth is sugar coated. He follows, lurking around as the other man picks out lettuce, and a variety of other fruits and vegetables.
“I’m Sungmin.” he finally says, because he feels like they have something in common.
“And I care why?” the stranger asks, dropping a bag of apples into his cart.
“Because I’m pretty interesting compared to everyone else here.” he says smoothly, tilting his head non-threateningly. The other mans snorts and continues on his way.
“That’s not saying much, since your competition seems to be the local priest.” He looks up, and Sungmin pouts. “God, I’m Heechul. Can you stop following me?” Heechul can be forgiven for not knowing how persistent he is, because they’ve only just met. Although, he doesn’t seem at all surprised when Sungmin follows him to his hotel, and cuts his shift at work short.
---
Heechul is the coolest person Sungmin has ever met, but he doesn’t tell him that, because it’s not like he needs to hear it. Kibum, Heechul’s ‘friend’, is super quiet, but he has that whole mysterious look going for him. However, ten minutes spent in his company proves that he is just as insane as Heechul.
“You’ll never believe what his dad does for a living!” Heechul says, and he almost sounds like he’s talking about his own father, for how proud he is. “He’s a ring master! Like, for a circus!” Sungmin is pretty sure he’s never heard Heechul so enthusiastic, and he’s heard Heechul a lot in their short friendship. The announcement does make sense, their arrival coinciding with the travelling circus that arrived on the same day, and Sungmin wonders what kind of circus it is.
“Well, that’s exciting. I haven’t been to a circus since I was really little.” Kibum smiles and Sungmin can say that he has, without a doubt, one of the prettiest smiles ever.
“So, can you do anything circus worthy?” Sungmin assumes the question is just for fun, and he tells them the yoga story. He has no idea that there’s more to it than that.
---
They’ve been in town for about a week, and Sungmin still hasn’t had a chance to see a performance, but he’s got a ticket for the next show. It’s night, and the big top is lit up, a beacon to the children in the city. It’s their last night there, and Heechul had given him one ticket, and sent him off to work. He had no idea that Sungmin had been fired for skipping his shifts.
Under the big, cliché red and white tent, its dark, which means he’s right on time, and he makes his way carefully to his seat. There’s a big ring in the center, but Sungmin’s attention is caught when someone shoves a bag of popcorn in his face.
“Heechul thought you weren’t coming, so he’s sulking in the back.” Kibum says evenly, his eyes on something in the dark. “I heard you got fired.”
“It was just a job.” Sungmin shrugs, though he’s not sure where to apply next. A spotlight makes its way to the center of the ring, and stops, focusing on a man who resembles Kibum. He’s wearing a tall, black top hat, and what looks like a bedazzled tailcoat. The children ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ as he introduces himself and even Sungmin claps when he disappears in a cloud of smoke, replaced with an enormous elephant.
He’s sure his eyes are glassy, and he watches with fascination when they wheel out a giant spinning board. A single man steps into the ring, and asks for a volunteer, calling out a seat number. Its Sungmin’s, and right then he knows Heechul and Kibum set him up, but he’s not scared of crowds, and so at Kibum’s insistent look, he joins the man up by the board.
“All you have to do is throw these at me!” he holds up a handful of sharp looking knives, and the crowd gasps. Sungmin stares at him. His aim is near perfect, he rarely ever misses, which is how he’d conned so many of his classmates out of their money. But he is a human being, and making a mistake at a crucial moment like this would be just his luck. Sungmin’s never done anything like this. The man hands him the knives, and assures him that he won’t be hurt, at all, and hands them over.
Some of the workers strap the man to the board, and it starts rotating. Sungmin looks at Kibum, wonders if he knows that Sungmin could probably do this with his eyes closed, or if this is really just some crazy stunt. Either way, he throws the first knife without any more distracting thoughts. It hits right above the man’s hair. The rest follow, six in total, and the man looks extremely relieved that he’s unscathed, which means that this was another part of Kibum’s plan.
“That was pretty circus worthy." Kibum says when he gets back to his seat. He can't find it in himself to be angry at them for playing with a human life. "I asked a couple of the students from the school. They told me you never missed. You should come with us.” Sungmin thinks about it, and how it would be the perfect ‘goodbye’ to the town he grew up in. He could be that kid who ran away to the circus, a role model to all the rebels. The thought makes him laugh, and he agrees, because he’s got nothing to stay for, not even Sooyoung, who gets a message on her answering machine for a goodbye.
---
“My dad’s dying.” Kibum tells Sungmin, a month after they’ve been on the road. He sounds so normal and Heechul has no reaction, so Sungmin ignores the fact that it’s a bit insensitive. He’s spent a month driving around in a vehicle with a dying man, and no one saw fit to tell him.
“Oh, should... I’m sorry?” they lapse into silence, not awkward because more than one of them would have to be at the same time. There’s no time to be sad, because the show is about to start, and Kibum’s dad has told them over and over that the show must go on. So the information processes, but Sungmin doesn’t get the rest of the story.
They’re gathered around the dinner table, and Sungmin is still attempting not to be awkward. He fails ten minutes later.
“Can one of you please tell me what is going on?” he sets down his fork, and looks across the table at Heechul, who rolls his eyes, and looks at Minseong.
“Ah, this. I have a tumour, cancer, you know. I suppose Kibum was playing up his very mysterious personality by not telling you anything. I have two years, at most.” Minseong continues eating, Kibum and Heechul haven’t even stopped, which leaves Sungmin to quickly run through the seven steps of grieving. “You handled that well. Now we can have dinner.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure. Dinner.”
---
A year later, Kibum inherits the tall, black top hat, and the show goes on.
---
To be honest the show stops for a while. Heechul is hell bent on keeping the circus going, but they need the main driver.
“You know, I’ve always wanted to be a lion tamer.” he says one morning, before they go out looking for some poor drifter who has a driver’s licence.
“And what qualifies you for this job?” Kibum asks, looking ridiculous in his hat, and eating a bowl of sugary cereal.
“Well, I almost got a degree in Zoology.”
“What do you mean almost?” Sungmin asks curiously. He’s never heard of anyone almost getting a zoology degree. It seems like one of those things you get, or you don't.
“Well, I thought about getting one once.” Sungmin throws a piece of toast at him, and they spend a few minutes cleaning butter out of Heechul’s unfortunate hair. “You know, we should just replace the whole staff. A younger, newer crew sounds nice.”
“We need a driver, not a whole new staff.” Kibum says, always practical, even at sixteen. He’s still got that adventurous side though. “Although... if we did it that way, we could make it our own kind of thing. A new kind of circus, you know?”
“I want lions.” Heechul says immediately, smirking at Sungmin. “And, I want one of those rings they jump through. You know, the ones that catch fire.”
“It could be like, how we initiate people!” Sungmin says enthusiastically. A knock on the door interrupts their whole conversation, and Sungmin goes to answer it. “Can I help you?” he asks as snottily as he can. The man straightens up and smiles.
“Hi, I saw your sign. You needed someone with a driver's license?” Sungmin nods, and Kibum and Heechul appear behind him. “I’m Eeteuk, nice to meet you!”