(no subject)
title: horella - told in a series of firsts
fandom: super junior, tvxq
rating: pg
pairings: heechul/yunho
word count: 1981
notes: for coyotecolored's birthday, back in october. thanks to sophia for beta-ing and providing ideas.
yunho first met heechul at a bar. or rather, saw him outside of a bar, bent over and emptying the contents of his stomach onto the sidewalk. a friend was with him, patting his back and cursing him for not paying attention to how much he had been drinking.
'um, is she okay?' yunho had asked, tentatively in his jeolla dialect. it was only when the two turned to face him that he realized, despite the smooth curve of his hips and delicate neck, the one who had been throwing up wasn't a woman at all. in fact, couldn't be, with the way his white sihrt was flapping around his bare chest and torso.
when yunho looked up to meet his eyes, he caught the young man's harsh glare, and almost turned around to run away. but men didn't run away from those in distress, and yunho was a man. or trying his very hardest to grow up into one. against his better instincts, he took a step closer and asked, again, 'are you okay?'
he was met with no response, because the young man had lurched back around to cough up whatever was left in his stomach onto his friend's shoes.
shouting and cursing ensued, and yunho quickly realized there wasn't much he could do to help. following his initial instinct at last, he turned around and headed back towards the subway station. this shortcut to junsu's wasn't working out so well for him.
***
yunho was first introduced to heechul after a dance rehearsal for an upcoming performance. he hadn't recognized him immediately, but vaguely knew who he was once his name was given. kim heechul was the talk of the academy, known as the unconventional country boy who had just joined a couple days ago. the only reason yunho hadn't met him personally up until this point was because he had holed himself up in the dance studios to rehearse whenever he had a spare moment. everyone else had been going out of their way to run into this new trainee.
noting how heechul's expression changed from curious to suddenly annoyed, yunho realized he recognized him by more than his name. but with one of the dance instructors standing beside them, he didn't dare bring up their first meeting outside the bar in seoul's red light district. what any of them did for fun was always understood to be personal. yunho wouldn't have had much of a chance to even accidentally blurt out anything, though, because heechul was already announcing he had better things to do than be paraded around the academy, as he turned to go.
their instructor ran after him, leaving yunho behind to gawk. with all the rumors and accounts about the new boy circulating around the office, how rude and intelligent and interesting he was, he wondered why no one had bothered to also mention how... well, how pretty he was.
***
heechul's first dance class with yunho ended in tears. not either of theirs, but a younger trainee who was also starting his first lesson in the remedial course led by yunho. a trainee that heechul had torn into, in a fit of frustration with a kick ball change maneuver he couldn't do quite smoothly enough.
'why do we need to do this?' heechul asked, once the students had been sent outside for a break and he was left alone with yunho, who was trying his very best not to glare him down because that would be impolite. 'does it ever show up in any routines? and what's with students teaching other students, how are we going to learn from you if you don't even know what you're doing?'
yunho clenched his fists and restrained himself from the urge to snap back a smart retort that would probably earn him a backhanded slap from any other hyung.
'if you think this is below your level, hyung, then you should ask to transfer into another course. if you want to, you can leave now. i need to continue my lessons.'
this time, he was the one to walk away.
***
the first time yunho caught heechul rehearsing in one of the dance studios, well after the hour everyone else had gone home, he began to wonder just how complicated kim heechul really was. in class, he noted improvement, but heechul hardly every spoke to him and he made no real efforts to speak back beyond his usual barking out orders and making corrections. (this didn't really count, because he was required to do that with everyone.)
but outside of class, heechul had apparently been getting in extra practice.
'i danced as if my bones were going to break,' heechul would say, in a radio interview years later.
yunho would have been able to testify to that. when the routine was finished, the older boy was clearly exhausted, but somehow continued after taking down a few gulps of water from his water bottle.
'maybe he's got something to prove now,' jaejoong suggested when yunho brought up this peculiar development. but jaejoong didn't have much of an interest in kim heechul, especially after learning abut how he had snubbed yunho's capabilities as a dance instructor. 'he probably wants to show you up or something. maybe he'll challenge you to a dance battle one of these days.'
'he doesn't know yunho very well, then,' junsu chimed in, leaping onto yunho's back and eliciting a shout of surprise from the other boy.
but yunho thought there had to be something more than vengefulness that drove heechul. he didn't outright ignore yunho. though he never said much more to him than was necessary and avoided looking at him whenever they passed each other in the halls, he asked questions and, if it was all pride, yunho knew he wouldn't bother at all.
***
yunho's first real look into just how low heechul's alcohol tolerance levels were was on donghae's birthday, when they decided to throw a small party in the dorms and hyukjae and junsu had somehow managed to sneak some soju in. he also learned that heechul was something of an affectionate drunk, and it didn't seem to matter at all who he was draped over so long as there was a body supporting his.
he made his rounds, stumbling from one person onto the next, meeting rejection here and there but mostly finding obliging dongsaengs too intoxicated themselves to have any considerations for propriety.
yunho hadn't had much to drink, because he had an early rehearsal the next morning, and was more than a little embarrassed when heechul flopped onto his lap (elbowing his chin lightly in the process) and proceeded to nuzzle his cheek with his nose.
'yunho-yah~' he had all but purred.
'yes, hyung.' yunho's reply was stiff, uncomfortable.
'i lied. you're not such a bad dance instructor.'
the younger boy's eyes widened, the veiled compliment catching him off guard. but more surprising was heechul's body going limp in his, and yunho almost didn't catch him before he fell to the floor. had the older man not been snoring, yunho might have been more concerned.
***
the first night yunho shared heechul's bed (because his bed's frame had been broken during a pillow fight with youngoon and jaejoong) was the most uncomfortable experience in his life. worse than sleeping in the subway, because at least the stiff chairs there didn't kick him during the night.
he woke up on the floor, not entirely sure if it was because he moved or because he had been shoved out.
***
the first girlfriend yunho introduced to heechul told him she thought his friend was scary. yunho laughed and shrugged it off, reassuring her that heechul was really very nice the more one got to know him. he just gave a cold first impression.
when he relayed this amusing anecdote to heechul, his hyung had scoffed and retorted with, 'she's just jealous that i'm prettier than her.' yunho had no way of arguing with that, and not only because it wasn't a response he hadn't been expecting.
in the following weeks, heechul went shopping more often and came home with a bizarre variety of colorful clothing in all shades of red and pink.
'you might as well take the rest of my clothes, you're wearing them so often.'
yunho grinned, embarrassed at his bad habit of being too lazy to ever pick out his own clothes and occasionally borrowing heechul's. but he didn't question the other's sudden eccentric change in wardrobe.
a month later, yunho's girlfriend broke up with him, accusing him of cheating and claiming to have seen it with her own eyes. when she left, he was left baffled and confused. heechul told him he had seen it coming.
***
the first night yunho and jaejoong moved out of their four seasons dorm into the new dongbangshinki dorm, yunho texted heechul to ask if he could come over.
'go bond with your new bandmates.'
the five boys went out to watch a movie, but yunho was distracted by his phone the entire night.
***
just before dongbangshinki's shooting for their first televised hug performance, heechul texted yunho to wish him luck.
'but don't break any legs, or you'll regret it~'
yunho, nervous and tense the entire day, suddenly burst into laughter in the middle of their dressing room, alarming his fellow bandmates and the coordis rearranging their clothes for the best effect.
***
yunho's first time getting lost in japan, he called heechul on a whim. they spent four hours trying to find his apartment, and his long distance bill later that month earned him a harsh scolding from dongbangshinki's manager. he apologized profusely, promised to pay it all off quickly, and then promptly got himself an unlimited text messaging plan.
he eventually had to change it to an unlimited text and media messaging plan, because heechul had taken up sending him pictures when he was bored. yunho locked most of them to a folder in his phone, because he had a tendency to lose things. these pictures were dangerous to lose.
***
for super junior's first televised debut performance, dongbangshinki gathered around changmin's laptop to watch the video they had downloaded off of clubbox. junsu had the idea of calling their fellow former trainees and, after a very confusing speakerphone conversation between the two groups, yunho received a picture message of heechul's tongue lewdly licking two fingers held up in a v-for-victory sign.
***
filming for the music video to the first super junior/dongbangshinki collaboration single was a success. the cameras caught most of the cute moments and the seventeen boys were glad to have a chance to be themselves.
junsu and hyukjae were perhaps the most ecstatic to see each other and spent a good majority of the evening attached by the hip. yunho, on the other hand, went around trying to say hello to everyone in turn.
but post filming, he disappeared with heechul when the others went out for dumplings. when donghae poked his head in the next morning to get heechul up for an early filming of his new sitcom, he found yunho curled around him in bed.
after a few seconds of consideration, the youngest of the robbong brothers leapt in to join them, eliciting a shriek when he landed on heechul's hip. with the chaos that ensued, the three of them eventually fell, laughing, out of bed. yunho and heechul exchanged grins before they paid donghae back for his attack with a double team tickle assault.
for the first time in a long time, yunho felt normal again.
***
the first time yunho kissed heechul was just before he left for the airport, headed back to japan to resume tohoshinki activities. it was an impulsive act, but neither awkward nor hesitant on his part. yunho had simply done what felt right.
when he finally pulled back, he didn't give heechul a chance to say anything before he was already out the door, murmuring a soft good-bye.
as he was stepping out the elevator doors, his phone vibrated to alert him to a text message. he flipped it open and read:
'idiot. you're not supposed to just walk away. next time, do it properly.'
x-posted here
fandom: super junior, tvxq
rating: pg
pairings: heechul/yunho
word count: 1981
notes: for coyotecolored's birthday, back in october. thanks to sophia for beta-ing and providing ideas.
yunho first met heechul at a bar. or rather, saw him outside of a bar, bent over and emptying the contents of his stomach onto the sidewalk. a friend was with him, patting his back and cursing him for not paying attention to how much he had been drinking.
'um, is she okay?' yunho had asked, tentatively in his jeolla dialect. it was only when the two turned to face him that he realized, despite the smooth curve of his hips and delicate neck, the one who had been throwing up wasn't a woman at all. in fact, couldn't be, with the way his white sihrt was flapping around his bare chest and torso.
when yunho looked up to meet his eyes, he caught the young man's harsh glare, and almost turned around to run away. but men didn't run away from those in distress, and yunho was a man. or trying his very hardest to grow up into one. against his better instincts, he took a step closer and asked, again, 'are you okay?'
he was met with no response, because the young man had lurched back around to cough up whatever was left in his stomach onto his friend's shoes.
shouting and cursing ensued, and yunho quickly realized there wasn't much he could do to help. following his initial instinct at last, he turned around and headed back towards the subway station. this shortcut to junsu's wasn't working out so well for him.
***
yunho was first introduced to heechul after a dance rehearsal for an upcoming performance. he hadn't recognized him immediately, but vaguely knew who he was once his name was given. kim heechul was the talk of the academy, known as the unconventional country boy who had just joined a couple days ago. the only reason yunho hadn't met him personally up until this point was because he had holed himself up in the dance studios to rehearse whenever he had a spare moment. everyone else had been going out of their way to run into this new trainee.
noting how heechul's expression changed from curious to suddenly annoyed, yunho realized he recognized him by more than his name. but with one of the dance instructors standing beside them, he didn't dare bring up their first meeting outside the bar in seoul's red light district. what any of them did for fun was always understood to be personal. yunho wouldn't have had much of a chance to even accidentally blurt out anything, though, because heechul was already announcing he had better things to do than be paraded around the academy, as he turned to go.
their instructor ran after him, leaving yunho behind to gawk. with all the rumors and accounts about the new boy circulating around the office, how rude and intelligent and interesting he was, he wondered why no one had bothered to also mention how... well, how pretty he was.
***
heechul's first dance class with yunho ended in tears. not either of theirs, but a younger trainee who was also starting his first lesson in the remedial course led by yunho. a trainee that heechul had torn into, in a fit of frustration with a kick ball change maneuver he couldn't do quite smoothly enough.
'why do we need to do this?' heechul asked, once the students had been sent outside for a break and he was left alone with yunho, who was trying his very best not to glare him down because that would be impolite. 'does it ever show up in any routines? and what's with students teaching other students, how are we going to learn from you if you don't even know what you're doing?'
yunho clenched his fists and restrained himself from the urge to snap back a smart retort that would probably earn him a backhanded slap from any other hyung.
'if you think this is below your level, hyung, then you should ask to transfer into another course. if you want to, you can leave now. i need to continue my lessons.'
this time, he was the one to walk away.
***
the first time yunho caught heechul rehearsing in one of the dance studios, well after the hour everyone else had gone home, he began to wonder just how complicated kim heechul really was. in class, he noted improvement, but heechul hardly every spoke to him and he made no real efforts to speak back beyond his usual barking out orders and making corrections. (this didn't really count, because he was required to do that with everyone.)
but outside of class, heechul had apparently been getting in extra practice.
'i danced as if my bones were going to break,' heechul would say, in a radio interview years later.
yunho would have been able to testify to that. when the routine was finished, the older boy was clearly exhausted, but somehow continued after taking down a few gulps of water from his water bottle.
'maybe he's got something to prove now,' jaejoong suggested when yunho brought up this peculiar development. but jaejoong didn't have much of an interest in kim heechul, especially after learning abut how he had snubbed yunho's capabilities as a dance instructor. 'he probably wants to show you up or something. maybe he'll challenge you to a dance battle one of these days.'
'he doesn't know yunho very well, then,' junsu chimed in, leaping onto yunho's back and eliciting a shout of surprise from the other boy.
but yunho thought there had to be something more than vengefulness that drove heechul. he didn't outright ignore yunho. though he never said much more to him than was necessary and avoided looking at him whenever they passed each other in the halls, he asked questions and, if it was all pride, yunho knew he wouldn't bother at all.
***
yunho's first real look into just how low heechul's alcohol tolerance levels were was on donghae's birthday, when they decided to throw a small party in the dorms and hyukjae and junsu had somehow managed to sneak some soju in. he also learned that heechul was something of an affectionate drunk, and it didn't seem to matter at all who he was draped over so long as there was a body supporting his.
he made his rounds, stumbling from one person onto the next, meeting rejection here and there but mostly finding obliging dongsaengs too intoxicated themselves to have any considerations for propriety.
yunho hadn't had much to drink, because he had an early rehearsal the next morning, and was more than a little embarrassed when heechul flopped onto his lap (elbowing his chin lightly in the process) and proceeded to nuzzle his cheek with his nose.
'yunho-yah~' he had all but purred.
'yes, hyung.' yunho's reply was stiff, uncomfortable.
'i lied. you're not such a bad dance instructor.'
the younger boy's eyes widened, the veiled compliment catching him off guard. but more surprising was heechul's body going limp in his, and yunho almost didn't catch him before he fell to the floor. had the older man not been snoring, yunho might have been more concerned.
***
the first night yunho shared heechul's bed (because his bed's frame had been broken during a pillow fight with youngoon and jaejoong) was the most uncomfortable experience in his life. worse than sleeping in the subway, because at least the stiff chairs there didn't kick him during the night.
he woke up on the floor, not entirely sure if it was because he moved or because he had been shoved out.
***
the first girlfriend yunho introduced to heechul told him she thought his friend was scary. yunho laughed and shrugged it off, reassuring her that heechul was really very nice the more one got to know him. he just gave a cold first impression.
when he relayed this amusing anecdote to heechul, his hyung had scoffed and retorted with, 'she's just jealous that i'm prettier than her.' yunho had no way of arguing with that, and not only because it wasn't a response he hadn't been expecting.
in the following weeks, heechul went shopping more often and came home with a bizarre variety of colorful clothing in all shades of red and pink.
'you might as well take the rest of my clothes, you're wearing them so often.'
yunho grinned, embarrassed at his bad habit of being too lazy to ever pick out his own clothes and occasionally borrowing heechul's. but he didn't question the other's sudden eccentric change in wardrobe.
a month later, yunho's girlfriend broke up with him, accusing him of cheating and claiming to have seen it with her own eyes. when she left, he was left baffled and confused. heechul told him he had seen it coming.
***
the first night yunho and jaejoong moved out of their four seasons dorm into the new dongbangshinki dorm, yunho texted heechul to ask if he could come over.
'go bond with your new bandmates.'
the five boys went out to watch a movie, but yunho was distracted by his phone the entire night.
***
just before dongbangshinki's shooting for their first televised hug performance, heechul texted yunho to wish him luck.
'but don't break any legs, or you'll regret it~'
yunho, nervous and tense the entire day, suddenly burst into laughter in the middle of their dressing room, alarming his fellow bandmates and the coordis rearranging their clothes for the best effect.
***
yunho's first time getting lost in japan, he called heechul on a whim. they spent four hours trying to find his apartment, and his long distance bill later that month earned him a harsh scolding from dongbangshinki's manager. he apologized profusely, promised to pay it all off quickly, and then promptly got himself an unlimited text messaging plan.
he eventually had to change it to an unlimited text and media messaging plan, because heechul had taken up sending him pictures when he was bored. yunho locked most of them to a folder in his phone, because he had a tendency to lose things. these pictures were dangerous to lose.
***
for super junior's first televised debut performance, dongbangshinki gathered around changmin's laptop to watch the video they had downloaded off of clubbox. junsu had the idea of calling their fellow former trainees and, after a very confusing speakerphone conversation between the two groups, yunho received a picture message of heechul's tongue lewdly licking two fingers held up in a v-for-victory sign.
***
filming for the music video to the first super junior/dongbangshinki collaboration single was a success. the cameras caught most of the cute moments and the seventeen boys were glad to have a chance to be themselves.
junsu and hyukjae were perhaps the most ecstatic to see each other and spent a good majority of the evening attached by the hip. yunho, on the other hand, went around trying to say hello to everyone in turn.
but post filming, he disappeared with heechul when the others went out for dumplings. when donghae poked his head in the next morning to get heechul up for an early filming of his new sitcom, he found yunho curled around him in bed.
after a few seconds of consideration, the youngest of the robbong brothers leapt in to join them, eliciting a shriek when he landed on heechul's hip. with the chaos that ensued, the three of them eventually fell, laughing, out of bed. yunho and heechul exchanged grins before they paid donghae back for his attack with a double team tickle assault.
for the first time in a long time, yunho felt normal again.
***
the first time yunho kissed heechul was just before he left for the airport, headed back to japan to resume tohoshinki activities. it was an impulsive act, but neither awkward nor hesitant on his part. yunho had simply done what felt right.
when he finally pulled back, he didn't give heechul a chance to say anything before he was already out the door, murmuring a soft good-bye.
as he was stepping out the elevator doors, his phone vibrated to alert him to a text message. he flipped it open and read:
'idiot. you're not supposed to just walk away. next time, do it properly.'
x-posted here