Under the Bridge (Leeteuk/Kangin)

[warmboys]

Pairing: Leeteuk-centric, Leeteuk/Kangin
Rating: PG
Word Count: 682
Summary: If there was anything he’d learned in the last ten years, it was that rumors could be believed into existence.
A/N: Written with Kangin's song in mind. Also, I didn't realize it was Leeteuk's birthday! Happy birthday, lol. Lies. He posted a picture of a cake on his twitter and I thought it was actually his birthday OTL

Under the Bridge

If there was anything he’d learned in the last ten years, it was that rumors could be believed into existence. Cursory ideas put to effective practice.

“You and Youngwoon get along well?”

“Of course,” he’d said.

“Good. Let’s keep it that way.”

Well, that was easy.

He got used to it. Kangin grabbing his elbow. The flash of his front teeth, little beaver pearls. They fell into stride with each other. They treated it as a marathon. There was no rush, just needed to set the rhythm.

When Kangin was around, he was allowed to be weak. He had to adjust to the idea. Kangin pressed a hand against his back to steady him when he messed up a dance move. It was unfamiliar at first, because he hadn’t grown up on crutches. Now he owned eleven, and an especially large, unwieldy, but fairly sturdy one.

Several months later, after Kyuhyun arrived, Leeteuk realized he had another problem. Kangin missed rehearsal that day for a doctor’s appointment, and Leeteuk ended up with his back on the floor.

The sharp pain seared up his spine. Donghae and Eunhyuk rushed to his side, propping him up. Like a rag doll, he thought, but it was more amusing than it was anything else at the time.

“I saw you, hyung, I think you leaned back a little too far during this part-“

“I thought something would be there to catch me,” Leeteuk said honestly.

For Bonamana he insisted on standing behind Shindong. “Are you sure, hyung? We could put you in the back next to Ryeowook if you want to sit out during the dance break.”

“No,” he said. “I can do this, Hyukjae.”

An hour later he was cursing everyone from Eunhyuk to Shindong’s mother, but not once did he come close to falling.

Half a year was more than enough time for a grown man to recover his balance.

His voice cracked at the second syllable in “Super” and when he extended his five fingers in front of him, the thing they always did, they moved of their own accord. Shook something awful. Like he was on drugs. He’d never touched the stuff in his life. It was Kangin.

For an instant the stage smelled to him like salt. Little grains in the air. He could almost taste the tears of the girls, the grown women swaying in the audience. Everything was getting blurry. Kangin looked thinner this way.

The blazer was too tight around him, made him a caricature of his normal self. Leeteuk folded his hands together and didn’t touch him. There were periods of stillness during his speech, and then he’d choke over a word and the room would stir again, urge him along. Strength from pretty girls, from strangers. Heechul held his hand, swinging it, and Leeteuk stood at the end of the line, only there to watch and narrate.

Hey, you see how well we’re doing without you?

Hey.

I’m fine.

Really, I am.

Come back soon, okay?

He unfolded his hands and brought the microphone to his smile, so that it could be heard.

It’s a mistake that the song ends up on his iPod, and it’s a mistake that he has the thing on shuffle. It’s a fluke, since he’s been so careful about keeping the past immobile, but everyone slips up now and then. After the sparse couple of piano notes comes Donghae, and after Donghae everything goes blank.

It takes a couple seconds for him to sink into the old ache, a few more to realize his body’s more self-aware than his mind. He swipes a hand over his cheek and then under his chin. He wipes it on the jeans, makes a mental note to wash them later.

He sits in the car long after the song’s finished and some techno Europop has started thumping in its place. The driver tells him he’s already home. They’ve pulled up to the curb, he sees through the tinted window.

The kids should be home by now, he thinks with a smile, pushing the door open.

such a sap. more serious and less coherent thoughts here.