Fic: Eternity - Blind Pic Challenge (Part A)
Title: Eternity - Part A
Author: vic_sim
Beta: a friend who seriously needs to get herself an lj acc
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.
Summary: Life is not always what we see. We all need someone to be there for us.
Warning: Character death.
A/N: This is for the Blind Pic Challenge held on
neoragobang
. It's posted here as well. The two posts are slightly different only in terms of some slight formatting.
“Life is an act. We’re all pretending who we are. We are all actors. Starting from the moment a child becomes conscious of his thoughts and others, the act begins. We start observing how others behave, learning about the conformity of the society. Do we -------”
He crunched up the paper, throwing it on the floor together with all the balls of paper. Giving up he threw his pen down.
“I’m never going to finish the paper.”
“Teukie-hyung!”
He spun around in his chair, turning towards the door.
“Hi Donghae.” Leeteuk smiled at the younger.
“Hyung, come. Don’t stay in your room. Wookie made something - I don’t know what - but it smells really nice!”
Seeing the nod from his hyung, the younger man bounced out of the room, shouting for the other occupant in the house.
“Kyuhyunnie~! Stop playing with your instrument!”
Leeteuk shook his head, kicking the paper balls to one corner near his desk.
“I’ll continue it later.”
“Teukie-hyung, did Donghae-hyung disturb you again?”
Leeteuk smiled at the set up on the table.
“Did you make all that Wookie?”
A shy blush from the younger man across him.
“Hyung, take a sit. It’ll be ready soon.” Ryeowook said, as Leeteuk reach over to help set the table.
Just when Leeteuk was going to argue, he saw two people walking into the room.
“Come on Kyu! You’re so slow!”
The taller but younger man rolled his eyes at the bouncing elder in front of him.
“Hae-hyung, the food can’t run away.”
Kyuhyun continued at his pace towards the table.
“Hyung~! Kyuhyunnie is bullying me!”
“There, there Hae. Kyu’s just playing with you. Come sit here.”
Leeteuk gently pulled the pouting boy - they would always be boys to him no matter how old they were - to the chair, re-directing Donghae’s attention to the food. Kyuhyun smirked, taking his customary spot at the table, but a tinge of warmth could be seen in his eyes. Ryeowook placed the last dish on the table, smiling shyly as they all dug into the food.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Leeteuk!”
Leeteuk felt an arm drape around his shoulders as he turned to his fellow classmate.
“Have you done the report?”
Shaking his head slightly at the rather colourfully dressed man, Leeteuk gently removed the arm on his shoulders.
“Good, neither have I. What did you do over the weekend? Wait don’t tell me. I know -”
“Spent it with my family.” “Spent it with your family.”
Leeteuk nodded. “Heechul, you’ve asked me the same question every Monday since we’ve met and my answer has always been the same.”
Heechul sighed, walking backwards to face Leeteuk.
“Why do you think I ask every time? Leeteuk ah, you need a life.”
“I have a life.”
“Outside your family.”
“They are all I need.”
“Teukie…”
Heechul took in the soft smile from his friend and resigned himself to another loss. But one day, he would get Leeteuk to tell him.
“Fine, fine. I know when I can’t win.”
Heechul glanced one last time at Leeteuk, before changing the topic.
“You know, I was with Hannie over the weekend and…”
Heechul rambled on about his weekend with Leeteuk nodding and smiling beside him, though silently he promised himself - just like how he did every Monday - he would get Leeteuk to open up and tell him.
“Hey Leeteuk,” Heechul suddenly stopped in his own ramblings, causing the other man to look at him strangely. “I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk.”
With that, Heechul opened the door to his office, leaving Leeteuk to stare in the corridor.
For there was always a tinge of sadness present in Leeteuk’s eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Sungmin!”
Sungmin turned at the call of his name, seeing the tall man waving his hands from the other side of the barrier. Quickly gathering his small luggage from the floor, Sungmin made his way to the outside of the train station.
The two men embraced as they walked out into the sunny streets, bustling with people. It took a while to get used to the glaring sunshine, as well as the noisy sounds, characteristic of the busy hour in the city. A sad reminiscent smile donned on Sungmin’s face.
“Every year, it’s the same, isn’t it Siwon?”
Without looking at Siwon, Sungmin knew the answer.
“Nothing has changed. It’s still the same.”
The streets were identical; the only things that changed were the names on the shops, the model of the vehicles on the streets, the unknown faces of the people of the city walking around. But the noise - the sounds of the motor engine, the students laughing and joking with each other, the voice of the mother gently chided her child for running, even the chirpings of the birds in the sky - remained unchanged.
They stood there just listening, until a cloud floated in front of the sun. At the loss of the heat from the sun, Siwon turned to his companion.
“Shall we?”
Sungmin nodded, peeling his eyes off the students in uniforms so familiar to him.
They turned and walked down the street, away from all the bustling of the city, towards the quieter and slower sides of the place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Teukie ah!”
Leeteuk turned at Heechul’s voice, knowing that it would only be worse if he did not acknowledge his friend.
Heechul came to a stop in front of Leeteuk, taking in his friend’s paler than normal face. He knew it was the time of the year again. Heechul had no idea why or what made his friend like this during this time of the year. Leeteuk never said and when Heechul had first pressed for an answer, the hurt and sorrow that flashed past Leeteuk’s face made him halt. The forced smile that Leeteuk tried to deny the feelings made the innately curious Heechul feel the curiosity breaking into a protective feeling over the older yet more fragile looking man.
Heechul knew not to press Leeteuk on such days.
“Teukie ah, some of my friends will be around here for a few days this week and I want you to meet them.”
“Heechul, you know I can’t.”
“It will just be one day. You can bring your family along. It’s about time I’ve met them right? It has been four years since I’ve known you but I have yet to meet any of them.”
“I know. There’s just not been the right occasion or time.”
Heechul held his tongue about all the birthday parties, the Christmas parties, New Year celebrations and other endless occasions when Leeteuk could have brought his family with him.
“Okay, I get that. But I still want you to meet my friends. They used to be from here as well.”
Leeteuk still looked uncertain.
“I’ll promise to not bother you for a month about your weekends if you come.”
Leeteuk looked surprised at that statement. He actually was not as annoyed as he showed about Heechul’s questioning every Monday morning when they meet.
“Really?”
Heechul nodded. He knew Leeteuk would cave in soon. I’ll just find other things to ask about. Heechul smirked, which luckily for him, Leeteuk did not spot it.
Heechul saw Leeteuk nod his consent.
“I’ll try, but they may not be able to make it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hyung, you should go out.”
Donghae said as he competed on the play station with the youngest. Leeteuk sighed as he cracked an egg into the pan.
“Are you sure?”
“Hyung, we’re not kids anymore. It will - Hey! Kyu you cheated!”
Whatever else Donghae might have wanted to say was drowned by the accusations of Kyuhyun cheating.
“Hae-hyung, you know better than to pay only half your attention while playing me.”
Kyuhyun smirked as Donghae whimpered about having to hand over his precious collection to Kyuhyun for a week.
“But Leeteuk-hyung, Donghae-hyung was right. You should go.”
“When have you all grown up?”
“It’s you who is getting old Hyung.”
Donghae had to duck a flying cucumber stick thrown at him.
“Seriously Hyung, you’ve been spending too much time at home with us.”
“So now you’re kicking your hyung away?”
Donghae and Kyuhyun looked at each other before giving exasperated sighs.
“Fine, I’ll go. Just don’t give me the silent treatment.”
Leeteuk caved when he heard the sounds of the game restart once more. He could almost see the two looking at each other with satisfied looks. Shaking his head, he turned back to his food. Only his family knew all the tactics to deal with him.
“I’m back. Have I missed anything?”
Leeteuk shook his head at Ryeowook. “Besides Kyu beating Hae again? Nope, nothing much happened.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I wonder if he ever came to visit.”
Siwon knelt down, placing the flowers neatly. “I don’t know. I never saw him since the day we left.”
Sungmin dug out a player from his bag, placing it on the nicely trimmed grass. Siwon took out a book from his backpack, sitting down next to Sungmin. They were silent for a long time, not quite knowing what to say about him.
“Me neither. I wished we stayed.”
“I tried coming back, but my parents stopped me every time.”
“I called his house phone, and cell phone. But I… didn’t get anywhere.”
“Are we ever going to find him?”
Sungmin shrugged, pressing the play button. Soft violin music flowed in the air. Anyone could tell that the recording was not the best, but no one can deny the talent of the violinist.
“Do you think they blame us?”
“For leaving him?”
Sungmin’s reply was to simply stare at the photo in his hands.
Siwon flipped open the book, taking the photo-cum-bookmark out, fingering the familiar albeit younger faces.
“Maybe…they’re looking after him.”
Sungmin stared as the happy faces stared back at him, with smiles fixed for eternity.
“Maybe…”
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>>>>>>>>>> Part B