Like the Movies
Title: Like the Movies
Author: xsilentserenity
Pairing(s): HaeTeuk/Leehae
Rating: PG
Genre: friendship, slight angst, slight humor
Warnings: talk about Donghae’s father’s death
Disclaimer: Such a pity.
Summary: Jungsu finds Donghae waiting, and he knows it’s time for Donghae to stop waiting, and start believing. But it’s not like the movies.
Requested by: silasignite
Note: Holiday Wish List Requests are still open on my journal. New requests are now being placed on my "pending list."
Jungsu thanked the man behind the ticket booth counter with a nod and a smile before turning and walking along the nearly deserted boarding platform. The man's final cheerful bidding of 'Happy Holidays!' reverberated in Jungsu's ears. He gazed around the empty station quietly, as to not break the tranquil silence amidst the few people that were traveling. It was only snowing lightly now, as opposed to the near-blizzard from a few hours ago, but the weather and ground remained cold enough for the snow to stay frozen. Jungsu watched as two snowflakes fell onto his black gloves -- the only he could find in his rush to leave his apartment -- and he used a puff of breath to blow them away, watching as they scattered into the air and joined their companions with a small chuckle.
He looked around, surveying his surroundings. There were only a few heavily clothed people wandering the platform, probably because of the weather and time. Travel was made difficult when snow obstructed the tracks, so the number of trains actually allowing passengers had decreased for the night also. Jungsu sighed and watched his breath form in front of him before disappearing into the air and night sky. Not many stars showed from behind the layers of clouds, so there was no natural illumination; he couldn't spot the moon, either, though he was sure that it wasn't a new moon.
Clutching his mocha, kept warm in an insulated thermos, Jungsu wandered through the snow, looking for a place to sit and rest before his train arrived. He sipped a mouthful of the scalding liquid, relishing in the warmth it immediately brought. It wasn’t long before he finally spotted a bench amidst all the snow and approached it, the snow crunching softly beneath his feet as he did.
Jungsu was surprised when he found another body already occupying the bench; he assumed he had missed the boy through all the snow, albeit how lightly the snowflakes were falling. He watched the boy from afar for a moment, observing how the other didn’t even seem to register the presence of another human. His eyes, chocolate browns (as Jungsu could see from even a few meters away), stared off into the distance, as if he wasn’t watching reality pass, but his own daydream land.
Jungsu remembered an old lesson he learnt in school, about how when someone wasn’t listening, or was daydreaming, their eyes would “glaze over,” and wouldn’t be focusing on anything at hand. The boy’s eyes reflected exactly that, his slightly sad-shaped almond eyes staring into a world in his imagination.
Jungsu took a step closer and saw the snowflakes fluttering into the boy’s uncovered hair. The brunette locks were covered in tiny flakes of white. The melted snow sparkled like crystals at the end of the strands and the frozen snowflakes twinkled like diamonds. It was… a beautiful sight.
With one more step, Jungsu watched the boy's eyes, observing how his eyes snapped to attention at the crunch of the snow below Jungsu's white boots. The boy didn't, however, look up to see the identity of the person approaching him. He remained staring ahead, near the end of the platform, at the entrance where the trains arriving would first appear; it was as though he was waiting for someone.
Jungsu took a final step forward, stopping when he was only an arm length's distance away from the boy. The brunette still didn't glance up at Jungsu's face, choosing instead to gaze right past him.
Jungsu took another long sip of his mocha before speaking. "Aren't you cold?"
"Cold?" he echoed vaguely. The boy still didn't look up at Jungsu's face.
Jungsu nodded, but then remembering that the boy wasn't watching him and wouldn't see it, he said, "Yes, cold."
Finally, the boy wrenched his gaze from wherever he was looking and turned to Jungsu, tilting his chin to make eye contact. "Why would I be cold?"
Rather than be offended by the boy's stand-offish and rather rude attitude, Jungsu smiled and chuckled amusedly.
The boy’s rosy cheeks and pink nose hadn’t escaped Jungsu’s sight. “You’re sitting in the snow and wind with nothing covering your head or ears. Don’t expect me to believe that you’re not cold,” Jungsu chastised good-naturedly.
Much to Jungsu’s surprise, the boy pouted childishly, with his lower lip jutting out more than usual. “Fine, I admit, I’m just a bit cold. What are you going to do about it?” He watched suspiciously as Jungsu grinned toothily, his white teeth mirroring the heavy jacket that enveloped his body.
With a laugh, Jungsu replied, “Well, if I was the hero of a movie, I’d be offering you my mocha right now.” He gave his thermos a gentle shake to indicate what he was talking about.
The brunette stared at Jungsu incredulously for a moment before huffing and looking away. “So, are you going to offer me your mocha?”
Jungsu let out a bark of laughter, but the boy’s startled eyes gave away how astounded and taken aback he was by the crazy sounding laugh. “This isn’t the movies, kid.”
“I have a name,” the boy argued, frowning slightly.
Jungsu smiled again. He was finding this conversation with a stranger curiously amusing. “Well, since you haven’t introduced yourself, I don’t believe I quite know it as of now.”
The boy pouted again, and Jungsu couldn’t help but make a subconscious comparison to a five year old child. “My name is Donghae… Lee Donghae. And why would you even ask if I was cold if you weren’t going to do anything about it?”
Jungsu smiled. “I’m Park Jungsu, and because at this point in the movies, the heroine would be offering the hero a seat next to her.”
Donghae looked up at Jungsu again, cocking an eyebrow skeptically. “But this isn’t the movies,” he said, but scooted over slightly nevertheless, after brushing the collected snow off the bench with a swipe of his hand.
Jungsu chuckled. “You’re pretty smart, Donghae.” He used a gloved hand to push the thin layer of snow off the seat of the bench and took a seat beside the boy on the cold metal.
Donghae crossed his arms. “What do I look like? An idiot?”
Jungsu laughed again. “No, no. Of course not.”
Donghae pouted, yet again. “Stop laughing. It’s like you’re making fun of me or something.”
Jungsu patted Donghae on the shoulder, repressing the laughter that threatened to bubble over. The younger boy was just so cutely childish. “I’m not, so don’t worry.”
“Fine.” Donghae puffed out his cheeks and looked away, returning his gaze to the arrival side of the boarding platform.
Resisting the urge to reach out and pinch the boy’s chubby cheeks, Jungsu asked, “Who are you waiting for in this cold anyway?”
Donghae kept his eyes on tracks. “My father,” he answered.
Jungsu followed Donghae’s gaze with his own so they both were staring at the same entrance. “That’s nice of you. Where’s he traveling from?”
A flash of sadness showed in Donghae’s eyes, but Jungsu missed it. “He’s not,” he replied calmly.
Jungsu tore his sight away from the tracks, where nothing had appeared yet, and looked at Donghae in surprise. The other boy didn’t flinch or look back under Jungsu’s curious eyes. “What do you mean by that? He has to be coming from somewhere.”
Donghae shook his head. “If he’s coming, it’s from there.” With his right index finger, Donghae pointed upwards, towards the sky, where the stars were obstructed from Earth’s view.
Jungsu looked taken aback, not expecting the answer Donghae presented to him. “H-he’s in heaven?” Donghae nodded his solemn reply. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Donghae dismissed it with the slight wave of his hand. “You have nothing to apologize for… and anyways, it was a long time ago. I’m fine talking about it.”
Jungsu’s eyes formed a perfect ‘o’ and he went back to staring where Donghae’s eyes had never left. They focused on the arrival end of the platform before continuing the conversation. “Why are you waiting for him if you know he’s never going to arrive?”
Donghae sighed through his nose. The exhale immediately appeared in front of Donghae’s face in a palpable form before disappearing. “My father… he once promised me that we would spend the holidays together.”
“Did he break that promise?” Jungsu questioned cautiously. He didn’t want to hurt Donghae unintentionally.
Donghae shook his head, and Jungsu saw the negative answer in his peripheral vision. “He died before he could fulfill it; that’s all.”
Jungsu looked at Donghae and immediately found the sadness in the younger’s eyes. “Is that what you really believe, Donghae?”
Donghae finally tore his gaze away from the tracks and instead, fixated it on Jungsu. They stared at each other rather challengingly before Donghae answered slowly. “Yes,” he said shakily. A shudder ran through his body, but neither Jungsu nor Donghae was sure if it was because of the cold or not.
“Are you sure?” Jungsu asked with a raised eyebrow.
Donghae looked away this time, finding a refuge from Jungsu’s questions by staring at the snow. “Y-yes,” he stuttered, trying to hide his nervousness, but Jungsu caught it anyways.
Jungsu clutched Donghae’s face between both of his gloved hands and tilted his chin not so gently until they were once again staring each other in the eye. “Are you sure?” he repeated.
Donghae drew a shaky breath in. “No,” he realized his answer himself.
Jungsu smiled and let go of Donghae’s face. The boy returned his gaze back to the front, where he watched time pass in the distance, but his eyes didn’t roam past the entrance of the platform. “Don’t think of it as a promise unfulfilled or a promise broken. You can believe it to be a promise that is only in your heart: a promise to yourself.”
Donghae blinked and asked hesitantly, “Really?”
Jungsu nodded. “That’s what I believe.”
“What do you mean?”
“One day, you’ll join your father’s side once again, in heaven. Then, you can spend all the holidays you want with him, together.”
Donghae turned his head and watched Jungsu quietly for a while. Jungsu didn’t break the comfortable silence. “Is that what you really believe?”
Jungsu nodded, knowing that Donghae would see it. “It is.”
“Why do you think I believe that, too?” Donghae asked suddenly, after a few seconds of snowy silence, when only the wind’s gusts would interrupt.
Jungsu turned his head to meet Donghae’s gaze. “That’s a question only you can answer. Why do you believe that, too?”
Donghae eyes shifted slightly. “I don’t know,” he finally sighed his answer.
“So you do believe that one day you’ll reunite with your father?”
Donghae nodded. “I think so.”
Jungsu smiled contentedly. “Well then, you should decide for sure. Just look deep into this, right here, and find out.” He reached out and pointed at Donghae’s chest, right above his heart as he spoke.
Donghae laughed a melodious chuckle. “I thought you said this wasn’t the movies. Is there anything more cliché than feeling with your heart?”
“The holidays is the season for belief and faith.”
“I know,” Donghae offered Jungsu a small smile, telling the older man that he understood, a silent ‘thank you.’
Jungsu opened his mouth to reply when a single train’s whistle blared and an engine steamed into sight. Jungsu and Donghae watched was it slowed to a stop, the carriages trailing behind, all attached securely.
Jungsu rose and Donghae followed suit. “This is my train, Donghae. It was nice meeting you.”
Donghae smiled. “It was nice meeting you, too. Maybe we’ll see each other one day, too.”
Jungsu turned to his new friend. “Promise me?”
Donghae grinned and held out his pinky. “Promise.”
They linked pinkies childishly and grinned like small children with a new secret before Jungsu turned and began walking towards his train. Some people were already filing into the carriages. Donghae turned and began walking along the platform, crunching through the unadulterated snow.
Suddenly Jungsu stopped and turned around. “Donghae,” he called, and Donghae stopped and turned back as well. “Where are you going?”
Donghae smiled. “I’m going home. I’m done waiting.”
Jungsu nodded approvingly. “That’s good. Next time you come out in the snow, remember to cover your head. You’ll get sick!” he warned.
Donghae laughed. “I won’t get sick. I never get sick,” he replied cockily, with an amused grin on his face.
Jungsu laughed heartily before turning away. Donghae turned and continued on his way to the exit of the platform. Both wore smiles on their faces, though the other couldn’t see it.
Jungsu laughed once more before calling loudly over his shoulder. The silence that expanded over the platform confirmed that his words reached Donghae.
“You’re not the invincible hero in the movies, Donghae!”
He heard Donghae’s reply when he was about to board his train.
“I know! This isn’t the movies!”
A/N: for silasignite. He didn't request it, but i said i would write him a fic, and that's what i did! Happy holidays!
and of course, I have like... 15 other fics to finish. I'm working on faeriecousin's right now, but I am SO busy these days. Because of that, any new requests I get on Holiday Wish List will now be placed on my "pending" list, meaning that I will try to get to writing your fic, but there's no guarantee. Thank you for understanding!
and Merry Christmas everyone!