The Long Way There (Chapter Two)
Title: “The Long Way There (Chapter Two)”
Genre: Alternate Universe
Pairing: Eventual SeungRi/TOP, TOP/DaeSung, G-Dragon/YoungBae
Side Cast: Park Bom, Kim YooBin, Min Sunye, SO-1, Seven
Rating: NC-17 (Sexual Content, Language, Substance Abuse, Violence) this isn’t some fluffy, pretty fan fiction. The first few chapters will be relatively dark and depressing.
Brief Synopsis: SeungHyun is trapped in a gang he can’t escape from. JiYong, the new transfer student, finds himself becoming the loner of his new high school. SeungRi finds ecstasy in a blue pill. YoungBae meaninglessly hops from one girl’s bed to the next. DaeSung can’t shake the feeling that being content with his average life isn’t enough for him.
Five boys on drastic paths will find comfort and solace in each other and in music.
Authors Note: Thank you for all the comments encouraging me to continue writing. It’s given me a reason to punch my muse until something comes out. I normally try to keep each of my chapters above 3000 words, but this one fell like 300 short of that mark.
***
Kwon JiYong sat amongst a crowd of girls on the high rise bleachers overlooking the indoor basketball court. Due to three straight days of rain, most of the kids who normally took their lunch breaks outside had all stormed into the school gym in order to stay dry. Most of the girls had decided eat their lunch on the bleachers so they could gawk at the boys playing ball on court.
It was a strange Freudian inspired migration that didn’t escape JiYong’s observation. Unlike the girls that stopped in mid gaze to whisper to her respective neighbor, JiYong sat alone with his iPod plugged into his ears. Oblivious to all that moved, JiYong held his eyes closed and tapped his fingers to the rhythm of the music and occasionally mouthed along to the lyrics.
“What are you listening to?” a voice asked as someone plucked one of the headphones out of his ear. JiYong fluttered his eyes open and looked dumbfounded at the girl peering back.
“Wh-who are you?” JiYong asked, blinking twice.
“Kim YooBin,” the girl replied, plucking the stolen earpiece into her ear. Using her hand to cup the ear that held the headphone, Yoobin then stuck her index finger into her other ear in order to block out the background noise of the basketball game from interrupting the music of the iPod.
JiYong continued to warily watch the girl process the music, wondering what in the world was going on. As if he didn’t have enough misery in his life, now random girls at the school were pestering him without explanation. As JiYong examined YooBin, he failed to notice that for the first time at this new school, other people were observing him with curious stares.
“Alicia Keys,” YooBin murmured.
“What? Oh…Yeah. Alicia Keys,” JiYong mumbled back, scratching the back of his head.
“It’s a pretty sappy love song. Why are you listening to it by yourself,” YooBin giggled. Opening up her purse, YooBin fished out her Dior lip gloss and began applying it nonchalantly as she observed JiYong’s obvious discomfort.
“The majority of popular music around the world deals with the subject of love. What else would single people listen to,” JiYong smiled as he flicked his thumb across the forward button of his iPod. JiYong’s MP3 player began playing Ne-Yo instead.
“Single huh? Me too actually. Hey, how come I haven’t seen you around before?” YooBin asked, stuffing her lip gloss back into her purse. She clicked her small bag shut, and gazed lazily at the skinny boy.
“I’m new, I just moved to Seoul a few weeks ago,” JiYong replied.
“That’s cool. Must be hard moving during mid semester,” YooBin sighed, offering her condolences. JiYong smiled and only nodded his head in agreement. He remained silent for a few minutes until he found his voice again.
“Yeah, I don’t really know anyone on campus,” JiYong said.
“Well, now you know me,” YooBin smiled, giving JiYong back the earpiece she’d stolen from him. Clicking open her purse again, YooBin fished out her cellphone this time and waved it at JiYong.
“I’m having a small get together at my house this weekend. You should come. I’ll introduce you to my friends. What’s your number?” Yoobin asked.
“A get together? Okay,” JiYong grinned. Although he didn’t know the girl very well, JiYong was beginning to find her personality infectious. She wasn’t like the other big city kids who were all too immersed in their own clicks to welcome someone new. She was more like the small town kids back home who all clamored to new kids like they were miniature celebrities.
Back home, new kids were extremely rare, and so the generated interest was more out of curiosity then hospitality, but still, at least they talked to the new people. YooBin was certainly an outgoing persona, unafraid of chatting it up with strangers without blinking an eyelash.
JiYong took YooBin’s phone and dialed his number. Giving her phone back, JiYong retrieved his vibrating phone from his pocket and saved her number into his address book.
“Oh, I’m so stupid. I never caught your name?” YooBin asked.
“Kwon JiYong,” the skinny junior replied.
“Alright JiYong-ah, I’ll text you directions. See you this Friday for sure, right?” YooBin asked, saving JiYong’s number into her contacts.
“For sure,” JiYong agreed.
“Oh, and I’m trying to keep this party pretty small scale. Don’t bring anyone with you,” YooBin winked before standing up.
As YooBin left JiYong in the stands, she flipped back thick locks of raven hair as she smiled royally at the boys who were watching her from the basketball court. She observed Dong YoungBae scowling at her with much pleasure.
***
“I don’t get it,” YoungBae growled in a dangerous predatory tone. In his current predicament, YoungBae was much like a lion in a zoo. Gloriously hot, majestically regal, and oddly pathetic at the same time. A caged lion, no matter how wild, was nevertheless a caged animal. YoungBae had never felt so conflicted.
“What’s there to get? Aren’t you with Sunye now?” Jang HyunSeung asked in a low voice. The boy took a brief moment to brush his long bangs out of his eyes before continuing to jot notes from the board. HyunSeung was only half heartily listening to YoungBae’s bitching anyways.
It was a good thing that the two of them were sitting in the back row. Had the pair of boys been any closer to the professor up front, they would have surely earned the ire of their teacher. But then again, even the female instructor seemed to hold a weak spot in her heart for YoungBae.
“That’s not the point. That guy was clearly not YooBin’s type,” YoungBae scowled; distressed that HyunSeung was totally apathetic to his current problems. As YoungBae vented his frustrations in a low whisper to his desk mate, YoungBae allowed his restless leg syndrome to go unchecked.
“YoungBae-ah, stop. You’re shaking the entire table,” HyunSeung whined, lightly slapping YoungBae’s leg. Much to HyunSeung’s relief, YoungBae’s leg stopped shaking.
“They didn’t look like they’d have anything in common. He looks like a crazy emo kid,” YoungBae sighed.
“I thought you said they listened to music together,” HyunSeung half heartily replied. He’d have to at least act like he was somewhat listening in order to keep YoungBae from getting peeved. If there was one thing YoungBae enjoyed more than skipping from one girl to the next, it was attention.
Perhaps it was his attention mongering that was the center problem of YoungBae’s promiscuity. HyunSeung didn’t point this out to YoungBae. It wasn’t the right time or the right place. The last thing HyunSeung needed was more complaints from his classmate.
“Big deal. Who doesn’t like music,” YoungBae retorted in a bitter tone.
“I’m just saying, it’s a common ground,” HyunSeung muttered. His annoyance was slowly beginning to build at his relentless desk mate. At this point, there was nothing HyunSeung could really say that would please or satisfy YoungBae. When his desk mate ground himself into this sort of irritated state, nothing could be done until YoungBae collected himself.
A moment of silence passed between the two of them as YoungBae ran some ideas through his head. HyunSeung took advantage of the situation to catch up on his note taking.
“Hey weren’t you invited to YooBin’s little party on Friday?” YoungBae asked HyunSeung with sudden excitement in his voice. HyunSeung looked up from his notebook and glared at YoungBae long and hard before warily nodding his head.
So much for the silent break.
“Yeah, I’m going… why?” HyunSeung asked with hesitancy in his voice. He was probably going to regret anwering YoungBae’s question.
“Perfect. You can go and tell me what happens,” YoungBae grinned, his eyes turning into small crescents. HyunSeung shook his head furiously.
“Ya, YoungBae… YooBin’s my friend too you know,” HyunSeung protested.
“It’s not like I’m asking you to spy on her. It’s a party that a lot of people are going to be at. Public knowledge you know,” YoungBae chuckled softly as he threw his arm around HyunSeung’s shoulder.
“Come ‘on, you know how much I love you right,” YoungBae used his baby voice, all but forgetting that they were in the middle of a lecture.
“It doesn’t feel right YoungBae-ah,” HyunSeung grumbled, shrugging off YoungBae’s arm.
“Just do it,” YoungBae pleaded.
A small vibration from YoungBae’s backpack took the junior’s attention off pestering his desk mate and focused it on his cellphone for a moment. Pulling the electronic device out of his back pack, YoungBae slid down his seat and hid his cellphone behind his desk. Opening his SMS box, YoungBae read the text in confusion.
“What’s up,” HyunSeung asked in curiosity as his talkative desk mate suddenly sank into silence again.
“It’s a text from Sunye,” YoungBae replied.
“And?” HyunSeung asked, jotting the lecture notes down.
“YooBin just invited her… and me, to the house party on Friday,” YoungBae whispered.
The lead in HyunSeung’s mechanical pencil snapped off as HyunSeung took his eyes off the notebook and glanced over at YoungBae in confusion.
“She did what?” HyunSeung asked, aghast.
***
“Thanks. You’re a life saver SeungRi,” DaeSung muttered to the boy that had helped carry the semi-conscious SeungHyun up to the small but quaint motel room on the second floor of the building. The two of them laid SeungHyun down on the pristine bed, immediately soiling the sheets in grime and blood.
“DaeSung, your friend got pretty fucked up,” SeungRi added as he examined the older boy in a state of empathy. The two of them had exchanged names while carrying SeungHyun up to the room.
The cuts and bruises on SeungHyun were nasty looking and SeungRi was sure that some of those scars would last forever. It would serve as a bitter reminder for the battered boy as the years progressed.
Wounds that would never heal; SeungRi could relate to that.
“He’s not really my friend,” DaeSung mumbled as he began untying the shoelaces of SeungHyun who’d drifted back either into unconsciousness or sleep. DaeSung had no idea how to tell between the two, but from what he could tell, at least the taller boy was still breathing. Once he finished tossing the shoes on the floor, DaeSung peeled the boy’s socks off and threw them next to his tennis shoes as well.
“Okay… I’m not gonna ask why you’re lugging him around then,” SeungRi chuckled as he removed the already shredded dress shirt off SeungHyun’s torso. Instead of tossing the article of clothing on the floor, SeungRi walked it over to the trash can and tossed it away.
“Then you’re smart. I don’t think I’d have a logical answer for you anyways,” DaeSung laughed warily. The high school junior stopped momentarily from his task and hesitantly eyed SeungHyun’s dress pants. Even though DaeSung was trying to get the injured boy out of his soaked clothing, there was something wrong about just peeling off a stranger’s attire.
SeungRi watched DaeSung’s hesitancy with innocent curiosity and interrupted the high school boy from actually having to carry out the task. If the simple duty weighed so heavily on the boy’s mind, there was no need for him to have to do it.
“Let me. Why don’t you fill up some hot water in the tub? He needs to clean his cuts as well as warm up,” SeungRi stated as he began unzipping SeungHyun’s dress pants. DaeSung looked relieved when SeungRi had taken the burden off his shoulders. He gladly took up his newly assigned task.
“Ok-okay. I’ll be right back” DaeSung stammered as he made his way into the bathroom to fill up the tub. SeungRi in the mean while removed SeungHyun’s dress pants but decided to leave the boxers on for DaeSung’s sake.
Examining the pants he’d just removed, SeungRi searched the pockets of the fabric until he located SeungHyun’s wallet along with the boy’s cigarettes. Rummaging through the box of Marlborough Reds that were mostly all broken and ruined, SeungRi located one cigarette that was still somewhat usable and stuck it between his lips.
Using the injured boy’s Zippo, he lit the stick of tobacco before flipping through the boy’s wallet. First, SeungRi examined the student identification card.
“SeungHyun huh? So that’s your name,” SeungRi called out to the knocked out boy on the bed. There was no response.
SeungRi further combed through the wallet only to find no cash. Disappointed, the youngster placed the wallet back into the pants and settled on nursing the free cigarette instead. It looked like SeungRi had done his community service of the day, although that hadn’t really been his intention.
“Alright, I started filling up the tub,” DaeSung came back from his venture into the washroom. He was a bit taken aback to find such a young boy smoking, but DaeSung decided to remain quiet. The boy had been generous enough to land a hand and DaeSung didn’t need to repay him through lectures about personal health.
“Okay, I’ll try waking him,” SeungRi replied.
“I think I should go get some medicine, ointment, and some bandages. Do you mind waiting for just a little bit?” DaeSung asked with a hope filled tone. He knew he was asking a lot out of someone who he’d just met, but there weren’t other options left to DaeSung on the table.
SeungRi merely nodded, taking another hefty drag from his stick of tobacco.
DaeSung checked his watch. He was going to get absolutely murdered by his parents. Ignoring his fate for now, DaeSung grabbed his school back and headed towards the door.
“Thanks for keeping watch for me SeungRi,” DaeSung said to the stranger.
“Yeah,” SeungRi murmured.
***
SeungHyun awoke to the sound of a completely foreign voice which failed to register in his head. SeungHyun couldn’t comprehend if the voice truly belonged to someone he didn’t know or if he’d been knocked in the head too many times for his memory to jog properly.
At least his surroundings had changed to something far more pleasant then where he remembered being last. Waking up on top of a nicely cushioned bed beat the hell out of waking up on the alleyway pavement soaked in rain and street filth.
As SeungHyun tried to fix the blur of his vision, he could distinctly remember someone saying something about rats. Even as SeungHyun tried his best to piece his memory together, his mind was fractured in scattered tangents.
Someone had stopped DongWook from pounding him into a crimson blur on the pavement but SeungHyun couldn’t recall who had helped him. But more importantly, SeungHyun had no idea why someone had helped him.
“Looks like you aren’t playing with a full deck,” a foreign voice wisely commented.
“I’ve seen this look a few times before. You don’t know what the hell is going on,” a tenor voice purred, followed by a light chuckle.
“Who the fuck are you,” SeungHyun groaned as he rubbed the non-swollen eye, trying to return his world back into focus.
“You wouldn’t know even if I told you. Get up,” the unfamiliar voice replied. It sounded young, but hardened. It could’ve passed for a tenor version of himself if SeungHyun had been coherent enough to process it: straight to the point, bitter, and with a sharp edge.
“Fine. What’s your name,” SeungHyun asked, a bit more collected.
“SeungRi,” the boy responded curtly.
“Where am I?” the high school senior asked as he sat up and slowly looked around. It was a decent looking room that looked too devoid of personal items to actually be the room of the person speaking. It was probably a room at some inn.
His vision finally focused on the boy leaning against the wall. It seemed his initial guess on the age of the voice had been right. He was definitely younger than him by a year or two. There was an unmistakable aura of cockiness and arrogance that SeungHyun could immediately spot. He saw the same thing in the mirror every day.
“You’re at a motel. Someone fucked you up pretty bad. DaeSung brought you here. I helped carry you up,” SeungRi spoke with indifference.
“Why am I… just in my boxers,” SeungHyun asked, just realizing that he wasn’t wearing a single stitch of clothing aside from his underwear.
SeungRi only laughed.
***
Authors Note (Part Deux):
I wanted to start by thanking everyone for their kind comments regarding the story. I understand that some of the characterizations of the Big Bang boys are outside the normal realm of portrayal, but I wanted to explore a different image for all of them.
I know DaeSung, TOP, and JiYong aren’t that much of a stretch thus far, but I think a few of you have a hard time thinking of YoungBae as this flamboyant playboy. I guess in a way, I have a hard time thinking of YoungBae ever being like that.
This is why I’m not writing it as if I were writing YoungBae, but I’m writing more for his stage persona, Tae Yang. I always enjoyed this Jackal and Hyde behavior of YoungBae who seems to be different on and off stage. As YoungBae’s character arc develops in this story, you’ll see him develop more.
I think.
Dur, I don’t know. I’m dumb.
Genre: Alternate Universe
Pairing: Eventual SeungRi/TOP, TOP/DaeSung, G-Dragon/YoungBae
Side Cast: Park Bom, Kim YooBin, Min Sunye, SO-1, Seven
Rating: NC-17 (Sexual Content, Language, Substance Abuse, Violence) this isn’t some fluffy, pretty fan fiction. The first few chapters will be relatively dark and depressing.
Brief Synopsis: SeungHyun is trapped in a gang he can’t escape from. JiYong, the new transfer student, finds himself becoming the loner of his new high school. SeungRi finds ecstasy in a blue pill. YoungBae meaninglessly hops from one girl’s bed to the next. DaeSung can’t shake the feeling that being content with his average life isn’t enough for him.
Five boys on drastic paths will find comfort and solace in each other and in music.
Authors Note: Thank you for all the comments encouraging me to continue writing. It’s given me a reason to punch my muse until something comes out. I normally try to keep each of my chapters above 3000 words, but this one fell like 300 short of that mark.
***
Kwon JiYong sat amongst a crowd of girls on the high rise bleachers overlooking the indoor basketball court. Due to three straight days of rain, most of the kids who normally took their lunch breaks outside had all stormed into the school gym in order to stay dry. Most of the girls had decided eat their lunch on the bleachers so they could gawk at the boys playing ball on court.
It was a strange Freudian inspired migration that didn’t escape JiYong’s observation. Unlike the girls that stopped in mid gaze to whisper to her respective neighbor, JiYong sat alone with his iPod plugged into his ears. Oblivious to all that moved, JiYong held his eyes closed and tapped his fingers to the rhythm of the music and occasionally mouthed along to the lyrics.
“What are you listening to?” a voice asked as someone plucked one of the headphones out of his ear. JiYong fluttered his eyes open and looked dumbfounded at the girl peering back.
“Wh-who are you?” JiYong asked, blinking twice.
“Kim YooBin,” the girl replied, plucking the stolen earpiece into her ear. Using her hand to cup the ear that held the headphone, Yoobin then stuck her index finger into her other ear in order to block out the background noise of the basketball game from interrupting the music of the iPod.
JiYong continued to warily watch the girl process the music, wondering what in the world was going on. As if he didn’t have enough misery in his life, now random girls at the school were pestering him without explanation. As JiYong examined YooBin, he failed to notice that for the first time at this new school, other people were observing him with curious stares.
“Alicia Keys,” YooBin murmured.
“What? Oh…Yeah. Alicia Keys,” JiYong mumbled back, scratching the back of his head.
“It’s a pretty sappy love song. Why are you listening to it by yourself,” YooBin giggled. Opening up her purse, YooBin fished out her Dior lip gloss and began applying it nonchalantly as she observed JiYong’s obvious discomfort.
“The majority of popular music around the world deals with the subject of love. What else would single people listen to,” JiYong smiled as he flicked his thumb across the forward button of his iPod. JiYong’s MP3 player began playing Ne-Yo instead.
“Single huh? Me too actually. Hey, how come I haven’t seen you around before?” YooBin asked, stuffing her lip gloss back into her purse. She clicked her small bag shut, and gazed lazily at the skinny boy.
“I’m new, I just moved to Seoul a few weeks ago,” JiYong replied.
“That’s cool. Must be hard moving during mid semester,” YooBin sighed, offering her condolences. JiYong smiled and only nodded his head in agreement. He remained silent for a few minutes until he found his voice again.
“Yeah, I don’t really know anyone on campus,” JiYong said.
“Well, now you know me,” YooBin smiled, giving JiYong back the earpiece she’d stolen from him. Clicking open her purse again, YooBin fished out her cellphone this time and waved it at JiYong.
“I’m having a small get together at my house this weekend. You should come. I’ll introduce you to my friends. What’s your number?” Yoobin asked.
“A get together? Okay,” JiYong grinned. Although he didn’t know the girl very well, JiYong was beginning to find her personality infectious. She wasn’t like the other big city kids who were all too immersed in their own clicks to welcome someone new. She was more like the small town kids back home who all clamored to new kids like they were miniature celebrities.
Back home, new kids were extremely rare, and so the generated interest was more out of curiosity then hospitality, but still, at least they talked to the new people. YooBin was certainly an outgoing persona, unafraid of chatting it up with strangers without blinking an eyelash.
JiYong took YooBin’s phone and dialed his number. Giving her phone back, JiYong retrieved his vibrating phone from his pocket and saved her number into his address book.
“Oh, I’m so stupid. I never caught your name?” YooBin asked.
“Kwon JiYong,” the skinny junior replied.
“Alright JiYong-ah, I’ll text you directions. See you this Friday for sure, right?” YooBin asked, saving JiYong’s number into her contacts.
“For sure,” JiYong agreed.
“Oh, and I’m trying to keep this party pretty small scale. Don’t bring anyone with you,” YooBin winked before standing up.
As YooBin left JiYong in the stands, she flipped back thick locks of raven hair as she smiled royally at the boys who were watching her from the basketball court. She observed Dong YoungBae scowling at her with much pleasure.
***
“I don’t get it,” YoungBae growled in a dangerous predatory tone. In his current predicament, YoungBae was much like a lion in a zoo. Gloriously hot, majestically regal, and oddly pathetic at the same time. A caged lion, no matter how wild, was nevertheless a caged animal. YoungBae had never felt so conflicted.
“What’s there to get? Aren’t you with Sunye now?” Jang HyunSeung asked in a low voice. The boy took a brief moment to brush his long bangs out of his eyes before continuing to jot notes from the board. HyunSeung was only half heartily listening to YoungBae’s bitching anyways.
It was a good thing that the two of them were sitting in the back row. Had the pair of boys been any closer to the professor up front, they would have surely earned the ire of their teacher. But then again, even the female instructor seemed to hold a weak spot in her heart for YoungBae.
“That’s not the point. That guy was clearly not YooBin’s type,” YoungBae scowled; distressed that HyunSeung was totally apathetic to his current problems. As YoungBae vented his frustrations in a low whisper to his desk mate, YoungBae allowed his restless leg syndrome to go unchecked.
“YoungBae-ah, stop. You’re shaking the entire table,” HyunSeung whined, lightly slapping YoungBae’s leg. Much to HyunSeung’s relief, YoungBae’s leg stopped shaking.
“They didn’t look like they’d have anything in common. He looks like a crazy emo kid,” YoungBae sighed.
“I thought you said they listened to music together,” HyunSeung half heartily replied. He’d have to at least act like he was somewhat listening in order to keep YoungBae from getting peeved. If there was one thing YoungBae enjoyed more than skipping from one girl to the next, it was attention.
Perhaps it was his attention mongering that was the center problem of YoungBae’s promiscuity. HyunSeung didn’t point this out to YoungBae. It wasn’t the right time or the right place. The last thing HyunSeung needed was more complaints from his classmate.
“Big deal. Who doesn’t like music,” YoungBae retorted in a bitter tone.
“I’m just saying, it’s a common ground,” HyunSeung muttered. His annoyance was slowly beginning to build at his relentless desk mate. At this point, there was nothing HyunSeung could really say that would please or satisfy YoungBae. When his desk mate ground himself into this sort of irritated state, nothing could be done until YoungBae collected himself.
A moment of silence passed between the two of them as YoungBae ran some ideas through his head. HyunSeung took advantage of the situation to catch up on his note taking.
“Hey weren’t you invited to YooBin’s little party on Friday?” YoungBae asked HyunSeung with sudden excitement in his voice. HyunSeung looked up from his notebook and glared at YoungBae long and hard before warily nodding his head.
So much for the silent break.
“Yeah, I’m going… why?” HyunSeung asked with hesitancy in his voice. He was probably going to regret anwering YoungBae’s question.
“Perfect. You can go and tell me what happens,” YoungBae grinned, his eyes turning into small crescents. HyunSeung shook his head furiously.
“Ya, YoungBae… YooBin’s my friend too you know,” HyunSeung protested.
“It’s not like I’m asking you to spy on her. It’s a party that a lot of people are going to be at. Public knowledge you know,” YoungBae chuckled softly as he threw his arm around HyunSeung’s shoulder.
“Come ‘on, you know how much I love you right,” YoungBae used his baby voice, all but forgetting that they were in the middle of a lecture.
“It doesn’t feel right YoungBae-ah,” HyunSeung grumbled, shrugging off YoungBae’s arm.
“Just do it,” YoungBae pleaded.
A small vibration from YoungBae’s backpack took the junior’s attention off pestering his desk mate and focused it on his cellphone for a moment. Pulling the electronic device out of his back pack, YoungBae slid down his seat and hid his cellphone behind his desk. Opening his SMS box, YoungBae read the text in confusion.
“What’s up,” HyunSeung asked in curiosity as his talkative desk mate suddenly sank into silence again.
“It’s a text from Sunye,” YoungBae replied.
“And?” HyunSeung asked, jotting the lecture notes down.
“YooBin just invited her… and me, to the house party on Friday,” YoungBae whispered.
The lead in HyunSeung’s mechanical pencil snapped off as HyunSeung took his eyes off the notebook and glanced over at YoungBae in confusion.
“She did what?” HyunSeung asked, aghast.
***
“Thanks. You’re a life saver SeungRi,” DaeSung muttered to the boy that had helped carry the semi-conscious SeungHyun up to the small but quaint motel room on the second floor of the building. The two of them laid SeungHyun down on the pristine bed, immediately soiling the sheets in grime and blood.
“DaeSung, your friend got pretty fucked up,” SeungRi added as he examined the older boy in a state of empathy. The two of them had exchanged names while carrying SeungHyun up to the room.
The cuts and bruises on SeungHyun were nasty looking and SeungRi was sure that some of those scars would last forever. It would serve as a bitter reminder for the battered boy as the years progressed.
Wounds that would never heal; SeungRi could relate to that.
“He’s not really my friend,” DaeSung mumbled as he began untying the shoelaces of SeungHyun who’d drifted back either into unconsciousness or sleep. DaeSung had no idea how to tell between the two, but from what he could tell, at least the taller boy was still breathing. Once he finished tossing the shoes on the floor, DaeSung peeled the boy’s socks off and threw them next to his tennis shoes as well.
“Okay… I’m not gonna ask why you’re lugging him around then,” SeungRi chuckled as he removed the already shredded dress shirt off SeungHyun’s torso. Instead of tossing the article of clothing on the floor, SeungRi walked it over to the trash can and tossed it away.
“Then you’re smart. I don’t think I’d have a logical answer for you anyways,” DaeSung laughed warily. The high school junior stopped momentarily from his task and hesitantly eyed SeungHyun’s dress pants. Even though DaeSung was trying to get the injured boy out of his soaked clothing, there was something wrong about just peeling off a stranger’s attire.
SeungRi watched DaeSung’s hesitancy with innocent curiosity and interrupted the high school boy from actually having to carry out the task. If the simple duty weighed so heavily on the boy’s mind, there was no need for him to have to do it.
“Let me. Why don’t you fill up some hot water in the tub? He needs to clean his cuts as well as warm up,” SeungRi stated as he began unzipping SeungHyun’s dress pants. DaeSung looked relieved when SeungRi had taken the burden off his shoulders. He gladly took up his newly assigned task.
“Ok-okay. I’ll be right back” DaeSung stammered as he made his way into the bathroom to fill up the tub. SeungRi in the mean while removed SeungHyun’s dress pants but decided to leave the boxers on for DaeSung’s sake.
Examining the pants he’d just removed, SeungRi searched the pockets of the fabric until he located SeungHyun’s wallet along with the boy’s cigarettes. Rummaging through the box of Marlborough Reds that were mostly all broken and ruined, SeungRi located one cigarette that was still somewhat usable and stuck it between his lips.
Using the injured boy’s Zippo, he lit the stick of tobacco before flipping through the boy’s wallet. First, SeungRi examined the student identification card.
“SeungHyun huh? So that’s your name,” SeungRi called out to the knocked out boy on the bed. There was no response.
SeungRi further combed through the wallet only to find no cash. Disappointed, the youngster placed the wallet back into the pants and settled on nursing the free cigarette instead. It looked like SeungRi had done his community service of the day, although that hadn’t really been his intention.
“Alright, I started filling up the tub,” DaeSung came back from his venture into the washroom. He was a bit taken aback to find such a young boy smoking, but DaeSung decided to remain quiet. The boy had been generous enough to land a hand and DaeSung didn’t need to repay him through lectures about personal health.
“Okay, I’ll try waking him,” SeungRi replied.
“I think I should go get some medicine, ointment, and some bandages. Do you mind waiting for just a little bit?” DaeSung asked with a hope filled tone. He knew he was asking a lot out of someone who he’d just met, but there weren’t other options left to DaeSung on the table.
SeungRi merely nodded, taking another hefty drag from his stick of tobacco.
DaeSung checked his watch. He was going to get absolutely murdered by his parents. Ignoring his fate for now, DaeSung grabbed his school back and headed towards the door.
“Thanks for keeping watch for me SeungRi,” DaeSung said to the stranger.
“Yeah,” SeungRi murmured.
***
SeungHyun awoke to the sound of a completely foreign voice which failed to register in his head. SeungHyun couldn’t comprehend if the voice truly belonged to someone he didn’t know or if he’d been knocked in the head too many times for his memory to jog properly.
At least his surroundings had changed to something far more pleasant then where he remembered being last. Waking up on top of a nicely cushioned bed beat the hell out of waking up on the alleyway pavement soaked in rain and street filth.
As SeungHyun tried to fix the blur of his vision, he could distinctly remember someone saying something about rats. Even as SeungHyun tried his best to piece his memory together, his mind was fractured in scattered tangents.
Someone had stopped DongWook from pounding him into a crimson blur on the pavement but SeungHyun couldn’t recall who had helped him. But more importantly, SeungHyun had no idea why someone had helped him.
“Looks like you aren’t playing with a full deck,” a foreign voice wisely commented.
“I’ve seen this look a few times before. You don’t know what the hell is going on,” a tenor voice purred, followed by a light chuckle.
“Who the fuck are you,” SeungHyun groaned as he rubbed the non-swollen eye, trying to return his world back into focus.
“You wouldn’t know even if I told you. Get up,” the unfamiliar voice replied. It sounded young, but hardened. It could’ve passed for a tenor version of himself if SeungHyun had been coherent enough to process it: straight to the point, bitter, and with a sharp edge.
“Fine. What’s your name,” SeungHyun asked, a bit more collected.
“SeungRi,” the boy responded curtly.
“Where am I?” the high school senior asked as he sat up and slowly looked around. It was a decent looking room that looked too devoid of personal items to actually be the room of the person speaking. It was probably a room at some inn.
His vision finally focused on the boy leaning against the wall. It seemed his initial guess on the age of the voice had been right. He was definitely younger than him by a year or two. There was an unmistakable aura of cockiness and arrogance that SeungHyun could immediately spot. He saw the same thing in the mirror every day.
“You’re at a motel. Someone fucked you up pretty bad. DaeSung brought you here. I helped carry you up,” SeungRi spoke with indifference.
“Why am I… just in my boxers,” SeungHyun asked, just realizing that he wasn’t wearing a single stitch of clothing aside from his underwear.
SeungRi only laughed.
***
Authors Note (Part Deux):
I wanted to start by thanking everyone for their kind comments regarding the story. I understand that some of the characterizations of the Big Bang boys are outside the normal realm of portrayal, but I wanted to explore a different image for all of them.
I know DaeSung, TOP, and JiYong aren’t that much of a stretch thus far, but I think a few of you have a hard time thinking of YoungBae as this flamboyant playboy. I guess in a way, I have a hard time thinking of YoungBae ever being like that.
This is why I’m not writing it as if I were writing YoungBae, but I’m writing more for his stage persona, Tae Yang. I always enjoyed this Jackal and Hyde behavior of YoungBae who seems to be different on and off stage. As YoungBae’s character arc develops in this story, you’ll see him develop more.
I think.
Dur, I don’t know. I’m dumb.