[100 Drabbles] Elements
Title: Elements (nature dances to no one's rhythm except her own)
Pairing: YeKyu/KyuSung (Yesung x Kyuhyun)
Challenge: 100 Drabbles (Set 12)
Rating: R (blatant “hints” at sex, language)
Genre: Romance, Fluff
Summary: Five 300+w KyuSung drabbles about the nature of their relationship.
a/n: It’s a little hard to sum up five different drabbles in one sentence…
(li)
Water
Jongwoon has always been known to be stubborn and all the other members know already that he’s unbendable. Jongwoon doesn’t compromise, he doesn’t care about what the others want and he tends to go off and do his own thing. But they’ve learnt to accept it as they’ve all been trainees together for years. The other members in Super Junior are already used to the way their main vocalist operates. Jongwoon has always been as solid as a rock, and the other members know that no matter what changes accompany them in the years to come, Jongwoon will always be there to stay constant, stay the same because Jongwoon never changes.
He always sleeps before two am, and wakes up at eight to warm up his voice. He never leaves clothes lying around on the floor, and he definitely doesn’t stay up watching movies.
But when the new member comes and shares a room with Jongwoon, all the members are shocked by the amount of leeway Jongwoon gives the new vocalist. Kyuhyun is messy, games until four in the morning and wakes up at noon if there aren’t any schedules. If it had been anyone else, Jongwoon would’ve kicked him out of the room ages ago. But instead, Kyuhyun lives in his room happily, leaving his jeans and socks all over the floor.
Jongwoon wonders what it is about Kyuhyun that allows him to stray so far from the rules that he’s set his life around. But as Kyuhyun snuggles against Jongwoon as they watch a late-night movie, Jongwoon realizes that Kyuhyun is like the tide. He always comes back even regardless of what you want, the gentle lapping luring you into the sea. The two of them are such opposites - Jongwoon is rock, the unyielding one that never changes and Kyuhyun is the water, the shapeless one that takes on whatever form it can. Water turns the solid earth into mud from time to time, and to make up for it, Jongwoon tries to introduce some stability into Kyuhyun’s life.
But of course, water never stays in one form for long. Kyuhyun can’t keep to a regular schedule. So when Jongwoon kicks Kyuhyun out of his room three months after his arrival, the members are all somewhat relieved that their main vocalist is back to being normal.
However, what they don’t know is that from time to time, Kyuhyun sneaks into Jongwoon’s room to watch a late-night movie with him, and when Jongwoon’s finally asleep, he scatters all his clothes all over the floor. And early in the mornings when Kyuhyun is still wiped out from an intense night of gaming, Jongwoon picks up the dirty laundry lying around and organizes all of his books on the shelf in alphabetical order.
(lii)
Fire
Kyuhyun is afraid of fire - ever since his teens, he has always worried that his heart can’t differentiate between love and lust.
Lust he is well acquainted with - the throes of passion when his body molds with another’s, the light teasing brushes of fingertips and the battle of tongues for dominance. The quickening of heartbeats that accompany stolen glances, the husky moans when their bodies are pushed over the edge. The feeling of teeth being scraped along skin. The feeling of two separate individuals becoming so close to each other that they no longer know where one person ends and the other begins. Those are all feelings that Kyuhyun know very well.
But what Kyuhyun doesn’t know is what love feels like. There have been so many people that he’s been in lust with that he’s always wondered if he’s confused what love feels like altogether. When Kyuhyun asked Jungsu how he knew that he loved Youngwoon, the leader had just patted him on the head and told him that when it comes, he’ll know for sure. He asked his roommate, Sungmin, why he confessed to Ryeowook. Sungmin smiled and told him that he always thinks about Ryeowook, that the most platonic of actions were enough as long as he was with him.
Kyuhyun has always been afraid of confusing the feeling of love with he feeling of lust.
But as he lies on the bed recovering as the fire starts to burn down, he looks over to where Jongwoon is sleeping next to him. One of his arms is possessively around Kyuhyun’s waist, and the corners of his lips curve upwards slightly. Kyuhyun interlocks their fingers together as he stares at Jongwoon’s face, trying to memorize how he looks. He wishes he could freeze this moment in time, still time to keep this memory intact. He feels his heart swell, and a foreign emotion overcomes him so suddenly that he feels lightheaded.
Kyuhyun doesn’t know if what he feels for Jongwoon is “love,” but it certainly isn’t just the fire that he is accustomed to. And as Kyuhyun shifts closer to Jongwoon and his eyelids start to flutter and close, he realizes that love and lust weren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. It was the rush of emotion after the fire dies down that made Kyuhyun think, “I’m not letting this one go” right before he falls asleep.
(liii)
Earth
It has become second nature of Jongwoon to turn to Kyuhyun when he has panic attacks.
Before Kyuhyun’s addition to the group, Jongwoon would either bite his nails in order to relieve stress or drink until he sees the bottom of a bottle so that he forgets all his worries and doubts. He knew it wasn’t good for him, but when he starts to question himself and everything that he’s doing, he would unconsciously turn to these two outlets.
But Kyuhyun stops Jongwoon from biting his nails every time he unconsciously brings his fingers up to his mouth. Instead, Kyuhyun gently kisses him on the mouth to distract him from what he was stressed about. And Kyuhyun lifts all of Jongwoon’s fingers to his mouth and kisses each one in turn.
“Stop doing that. It’s not good.”
Jongwoon’s bad habit gradually goes away.
And when Jongwoon wants to drown himself in his sorrows and alcohol, Kyuhyun would come up with various ways to either distract him, or talk through why Jongwoon is an idiot and shouldn’t second-guess himself. Somehow, Kyuhyun always knows when Jongwoon is down - they’ve spent so much time together that Kyuhyun knows how to pick out all the signs.
When Jongwoon sees haters on the internet who call him ugly, Kyuhyun reassures him that he’s the most gorgeous thing he’s ever laid eyes on (and that’s including Siwon too!). When Jongwoon starts wondering if he should continue with being a member of Super Junior or just leave to run the family businesses, Kyuhyun drags him to the bedroom and reminds him why he can’t leave the maknae. When Jongwoon loses his voice and can’t sing properly, Kyuhyun refuses to sing as well and plays back all the songs that Jongwoon has sung to remind him of how his beautiful voice will sound once he’s recovered.
“Hyung, you’re perfect in every way. Stop doubting yourself so much. You belong in Super Junior.”
Jongwoon starts to believe him.
So when Kyuhyun leaves to China to promote with Super Junior-M, Jongwoon finds himself a little lost. Although he has Hyukjae and Sungmin with him, it isn’t enough to quell the uncertainty that occasionally rises in him. It’s only when he hears the smooth silky voice of Kyuhyun on the phone that he relaxes slightly. Kyuhyun keeps Jongwoon grounded, the one source of stability when he wavers. And when Kyuhyun finally comes home, the overwhelming relief that floods throughout Jongwoon’s body makes him hug Kyuhyun so tightly that the other members have to pry them apart.
(liv)
Air
Possessiveness has never been one of Kyuhyun’s more positive traits. He hated it about himself, but once he felt possessive over something he disliked even the idea of someone else using it. Or being near it for that matter. Maybe it came with being the maknae, or maybe he was just a spoilt brat. But he liked having things tied down to him, and only him.
The same greed applied to people too. Once he realized his feelings for Jongwoon, he hated it when other members came near him after schedules. He would feel jealous when he sees Siwon’s hand on Jongwoon’s shoulder, or Hyukjae laughing about something stupid with Jongwoon or when “Two Woon” was together taking selcas.
Kyuhyun hated himself for it, but there were times when he wanted to cut off Jongwoon’s freedom of interacting with different people. He knows he shouldn’t feel so possessive - “Jongwoon is a person for fuck’s sake, not a possession” - yet Kyuhyun can’t help himself. He would feel angry whenever some members became too touchy, and he would run up and kiss his Jongwoon to remind them all who Jongwoon’s was. The other members would watch with amusement, but they understood his message.
Kyuhyun never realized how miserable he was making Jongwoon until he came home one day to find Jongwoon sitting on the sofa staring blankly into space.
“What’s wrong?”
“Kyu-ah, we need to talk.”
“Hmm?” Kyuhyun leans down to kiss Jongwoon, but Jongwoon pushes him away.
“The other members avoid me because you don’t like it.”
Kyuhyun stares at the floor guiltily as Jongwoon rants on about how he doesn’t want to lose Kyuhyun or his members. He didn’t want to be forced to choose between the two of them. Kyuhyun didn’t realize that his love could be so suffocating, but it seems to be making Jongwoon miserable because it meant he had to keep both sides happy at the price of his own happiness.
“Kyuhyun-ah. I love you. You know that. You’re the air I breathe. If I don’t have you, I can’t live for even a day. But the members…they’re like my water. I can manage without water for three days, but any more and I will die too.”
Kyuhyun kneels down in front of Jongwoon.
“I’m sorry hyung. I’ll stop being jealous. As long as I’m the only one who’s air, I’m good.”
Jongwoon smiles brightly and pecks Kyuhyun on the lips. And he murmurs into Kyuhyun’s ear:
“Okay, I forgive you. No more evil glares at the other members. But you better keep a little distance between you and Sungmin too. I don’t like how close you guys are…you guys are one step away doing what Jonghyun and Taemin did that day on stage…what are you laughing for? I’m allowed to be a paranoid jealous boyfriend too!”
(lv)
Spirit
Truth be told, neither Jongwoon nor Kyuhyun had ever imagined himself married. The life of marriage was one of commitment, of being tied down to one thing. Both of them are free spirits, and the idea of being entwined by vows is frightening.
So as Jongwoon looks at the ring that he took out from the pocket of his jeans, he wonders what had happened to that fear of being tied down to one person for the rest of his life. The platinum band sparkles in the sunlight as Jongwoon stares at the engraving on the inside: KyuWoon. He had originally wanted to use YeKyu, but it seemed a little weird using his stage name for such a private matter. He smiles at how their names merged together.
Somewhere at the back of Jongwoon’s mind, there’s the nagging thought that Kyuhyun may back out and run as soon as he asks him to get married to him, but the romantic in him says that there’s no way his boyfriend would refuse - after all, they mean far too much to each other.
As he hears Kyuhyun’s voice call out from behind him, he feels the adrenaline pump through his body and he turns around. The smile on Kyuhyun’s face is almost blinding, and Jongwoon feels his heart soar just by seeing his boyfriend so happy. Jongwoon takes a deep breath as Kyuhyun walks over, and he holds the ring up.
“What’s this?”
“Cho Kyuhyun, will you marry me?”
“…no.”
Jongwoon narrows his eyes at the man in front of him, who currently has a smirk plastered across his face.
“Why not?”
“What kind of half-assed proposal was that? You didn’t even kneel!”
“But you’re a guy. It’d be weird if I knelt.”
“I won’t say yes until you give me a heart-stopping, romantic proposal that sweeps me off my feet.”
“…are you a girl? Did dressing up as a woman on SNL get to you?”
“Shut up. You know perfectly well that there’s a lot of testosterone in this body.”
Jongwoon doesn’t understand how his proposal had turned into bickering, but it seemed that it was always like this between the two of them. He sighs and gets on one knee.
“Cho Kyuhyun, will you marry me? I want to spend the rest of my days with you, and even when we’re apart I want you to wear this ring - a symbol that you belong to me, a symbol that part of my spirit is with you all the time at the one part of your body that is closest to your heart. I can’t imagine living without you. I promise that I’ll do all that I can to ensure that you’ll be the happiest man alive, and that you’ll never shed a single tear.”
Jongwoon cringes at how cheesy his words are, but as he looks up into Kyuhyun’s eyes, he sees that his boyfriend is teary-eyed. Jongwoon softens at how Kyuhyun is touched by his words. Kyuhyun whispers the one word that Jongwoon is dying to hear, and he takes Kyuhyun’s hand to slip on the ring.
“It fits perfectly.”
“Yeah, I measured the circumference of your finger while you were asleep last night.”
Kyuhyun glares at Jongwoon.
“Must you ruin the atmosphere?”
Jongwoon shrugs, and pulls Kyuhyun into a kiss under the summer sky. Kyuhyun leans against Jongwoon, and smiles as the words about how the wedding ring symbolizes Jongwoon’s spirit being close to his heart sinks in. Although the rational part of his brain knew that there’s no such thing, there was a comfort to knowing that they’ll be together even though they are physically separated by distance during their years of conscription and waiting.
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a/n: A little note about how I interpreted these prompts: I didn't want to take them too literally, so I tried to take the properties of each element and somehow relate them to the drabbles. The first one is a bit of a mix of earth and water, and there's a bit of a stretch for describing Jongwoon as an anal retentive OCD guy, and Kyuhyun as the messy disorganized one. But I felt like it would be an interesting to swap it around for once. I know it's a little out of character for both of them, but bear with me :) The thing about water I wanted to focus on is flexibility. Fire is passion and lust. Earth is stability. Air is freedom.
I think I also included some double interpretations. Both air and water is also a necessity to life. Earth is inflexible.
I'm rambling a bit. Ignore me.
Oh, and L is the roman numeral for 50. so LI = 51. Just in case anyone's wondering.
So I hope you like these! And leave me a note on which one was your favorite :)