Human Nature [One-shot]
Title: Human Nature
Genre: Slice-of-life, Smut
Rating: PG-15
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Sungmin
Summary: In which Sungmin is the prostitute Kyuhyun tells that he will visit for the last time.
"I want to stop coming.”
There was a pause, and the black stare made Kyuhyun swallow. It made Kyuhyun’s eyes travel downwards across the expanse of milky skin, to avoid the judgment, or maybe just because he liked to look. It’s the last time, he told himself. And he might as well get his money’s worth.
“You want to stop coming?”
There is no small amount of disbelief in the voice. And Kyuhyun’s pride bristled at the notion. “You think I can’t do it.”
Sungmin always made the simplest things seem sensual. Just standing up, his form was like a jaguar, stretching to pounce. The slide of cloth on skin - cotton, then denim - tight. Oh, so tight.
Kyuhyun caught himself at Sungmin’s smirk, and he looked away, outwardly angry and secretly ashamed.
“Oh, don’t be so angry at yourself.” Amusement. “It’s just human nature.”
Kyuhyun shook his head, unwilling to be roused to partake in an argument he knew he’d lose. Sungmin knew it, that many times Kyuhyun had come to him. He sat back down, taking out a stick of cancer and lighting it up as a testimony to how much he was Kyuhyun’s downfall.
“Alright then. A session is still a session, even if it is the last. So, what do you want to talk about this time?”
The statement was odd and new, and Kyuhyun stared at Sungmin, uncomprehending. “Talk? I pay for sex, not talk.”
“But you still talk anyway. Don’t say you don’t. You do. About work, about people you meet, about your life’s troubles in general. It’s interesting enough, so I don’t charge you extra. Oh, don’t go all soap opera on me, other customers do it all the time. Ask around and you’ll find out that the boring ones always pay more. So, go on.”
Kyuhyun would like to deny it, but he knew that what Sungmin said was true. He came not only to relieve sexual tension, but emotional as well. And all the fucked-up junk he told Sungmin over the years would have been enough to keep a sitcom going for an eternity. So, he lay back down onto the bed, as if Sungmin was a shrink, and talked about his pending promotion at work.
“So you’re not coming back because being found out would damage that possibility, no?” As usual, Sungmin cut back no corners, and Kyuhyun, knowing it to just be his nature, wasn’t bothered.
“Yeah.” He admitted, “it’s stressful. I don’t know why I bother really. It’s working hard to be even more stressed and having more shit thrown on you-”
“Because everyone wants to rise in the corporate ladder, impress everyone else, possibly have a big ass car and house and other things you have when you are successful in general.” Sungmin completed, ducking when Kyuhyun threw his shirt at him.
Instrumental pause. The gathering of thoughts. Then Sungmin beats to saying his piece before Kyuhyun can, and it’s not what Kyuhyun expects him to say. No words of congratulations, or of reminders to come back when he’s too successful to be hurt by insignificant things like fornication. Instead, all he gets is a breezy, “I guess all that boasting paid off.”
“What?”
“You do know you talk about your achievements a lot, don’t you.” Then Sungmin shook his head before Kyuhyun could answer. “No, of course you don’t. Well, you do. Even when you’re referring to conversations, you always talk about how you told this person about that thing you did, or that person about this thing you achieved. It’s one of the annoying things about you, but your social commentary is funny, so I usually don’t say a word.”
Kyuhyun was speechless in the wake of the revelation. He sat up, mouth opening like a goldfish in shock. And finally, when he stuttered again, they were stutters of disbelief.
“I… really talk that much about my achievements?”
“Uhuh.”
“And it’s boring?”
“Well, that’s in my opinion. But, yeah.”
“I don’t mean to.”
A pause. “Uhuh.”
“Okay, so it’s egoistic, but I mean, it’s not a bad thing… to boast about oneself, right?”
A longer pause. “Uhuh.”
Kyuhyun sighed, placing his face into his hands. He can read the truth of Sungmin’s stand in his posture. That tilt of his head, that quirk of his eyebrow, that twitch of his lips. In the wake of it all, Kyuhyun was just spouting excuses.
He heard Sungmin turn around in his seat. And he knew it was his cue to speak. To tell the truth. Like the devil in that story about other people in hell.
“Sometimes I feel as if I can’t stop talking about myself. Every word that comes out is ‘me’, ‘me’, ‘me’, ‘me’. It’s as if I’m afraid that if I don’t talk about my achievements, no one will notice. As if I’m trying to make my own insignificant mark against the fickle attention of others. As if I’m afraid of being forgotten.”
Sungmin snorted, flicking ash onto the carpet and watching the smoke curl up in the air as if it was a person dying. “And I’m glad for that. It’s the only reason why my business is so successful.”
Kyuhyun flicked up his eyes and met with a stare so factual, it was cruel. And for one, crazy moment, it seemed that this uneducated prostitute he slept with on a habitual Friday knew more about the world than he did.
“They all come back, again and again, night after night. Not because they had a good time. Oh, no. It’s because they’re all terrified. Because, really, they’re all insignificant cogs in one big machine called society. And even if one is gone, there are many others to take their place, so that no one will be missing them. And they come here, because they want someone to remember them. And they’re paying good money, because night after night, they’ll have someone in their arms crying their name, and for an hour and a half, they will actually matter to someone.”
“And maybe, just maybe. After thousands of dollars spent,” Kyuhyun gasped when there was a hand at his crotch, and eyes looking down into his soul. “There will finally be someone to remember them.”
“But why?” Kyuhyun gasped, grasping at his words, as if they were the last resort to sanity.
“Human nature.”
And then, Sungmin kissed Kyuhyun hard on the lips.
~*~
The next week, Kyuhyun was standing on that olive doorstep again, pockets full of cash and rueful sigh on his lips.
He was human after all.
~*~
Genre: Slice-of-life, Smut
Rating: PG-15
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Sungmin
Summary: In which Sungmin is the prostitute Kyuhyun tells that he will visit for the last time.
"I want to stop coming.”
There was a pause, and the black stare made Kyuhyun swallow. It made Kyuhyun’s eyes travel downwards across the expanse of milky skin, to avoid the judgment, or maybe just because he liked to look. It’s the last time, he told himself. And he might as well get his money’s worth.
“You want to stop coming?”
There is no small amount of disbelief in the voice. And Kyuhyun’s pride bristled at the notion. “You think I can’t do it.”
Sungmin always made the simplest things seem sensual. Just standing up, his form was like a jaguar, stretching to pounce. The slide of cloth on skin - cotton, then denim - tight. Oh, so tight.
Kyuhyun caught himself at Sungmin’s smirk, and he looked away, outwardly angry and secretly ashamed.
“Oh, don’t be so angry at yourself.” Amusement. “It’s just human nature.”
Kyuhyun shook his head, unwilling to be roused to partake in an argument he knew he’d lose. Sungmin knew it, that many times Kyuhyun had come to him. He sat back down, taking out a stick of cancer and lighting it up as a testimony to how much he was Kyuhyun’s downfall.
“Alright then. A session is still a session, even if it is the last. So, what do you want to talk about this time?”
The statement was odd and new, and Kyuhyun stared at Sungmin, uncomprehending. “Talk? I pay for sex, not talk.”
“But you still talk anyway. Don’t say you don’t. You do. About work, about people you meet, about your life’s troubles in general. It’s interesting enough, so I don’t charge you extra. Oh, don’t go all soap opera on me, other customers do it all the time. Ask around and you’ll find out that the boring ones always pay more. So, go on.”
Kyuhyun would like to deny it, but he knew that what Sungmin said was true. He came not only to relieve sexual tension, but emotional as well. And all the fucked-up junk he told Sungmin over the years would have been enough to keep a sitcom going for an eternity. So, he lay back down onto the bed, as if Sungmin was a shrink, and talked about his pending promotion at work.
“So you’re not coming back because being found out would damage that possibility, no?” As usual, Sungmin cut back no corners, and Kyuhyun, knowing it to just be his nature, wasn’t bothered.
“Yeah.” He admitted, “it’s stressful. I don’t know why I bother really. It’s working hard to be even more stressed and having more shit thrown on you-”
“Because everyone wants to rise in the corporate ladder, impress everyone else, possibly have a big ass car and house and other things you have when you are successful in general.” Sungmin completed, ducking when Kyuhyun threw his shirt at him.
Instrumental pause. The gathering of thoughts. Then Sungmin beats to saying his piece before Kyuhyun can, and it’s not what Kyuhyun expects him to say. No words of congratulations, or of reminders to come back when he’s too successful to be hurt by insignificant things like fornication. Instead, all he gets is a breezy, “I guess all that boasting paid off.”
“What?”
“You do know you talk about your achievements a lot, don’t you.” Then Sungmin shook his head before Kyuhyun could answer. “No, of course you don’t. Well, you do. Even when you’re referring to conversations, you always talk about how you told this person about that thing you did, or that person about this thing you achieved. It’s one of the annoying things about you, but your social commentary is funny, so I usually don’t say a word.”
Kyuhyun was speechless in the wake of the revelation. He sat up, mouth opening like a goldfish in shock. And finally, when he stuttered again, they were stutters of disbelief.
“I… really talk that much about my achievements?”
“Uhuh.”
“And it’s boring?”
“Well, that’s in my opinion. But, yeah.”
“I don’t mean to.”
A pause. “Uhuh.”
“Okay, so it’s egoistic, but I mean, it’s not a bad thing… to boast about oneself, right?”
A longer pause. “Uhuh.”
Kyuhyun sighed, placing his face into his hands. He can read the truth of Sungmin’s stand in his posture. That tilt of his head, that quirk of his eyebrow, that twitch of his lips. In the wake of it all, Kyuhyun was just spouting excuses.
He heard Sungmin turn around in his seat. And he knew it was his cue to speak. To tell the truth. Like the devil in that story about other people in hell.
“Sometimes I feel as if I can’t stop talking about myself. Every word that comes out is ‘me’, ‘me’, ‘me’, ‘me’. It’s as if I’m afraid that if I don’t talk about my achievements, no one will notice. As if I’m trying to make my own insignificant mark against the fickle attention of others. As if I’m afraid of being forgotten.”
Sungmin snorted, flicking ash onto the carpet and watching the smoke curl up in the air as if it was a person dying. “And I’m glad for that. It’s the only reason why my business is so successful.”
Kyuhyun flicked up his eyes and met with a stare so factual, it was cruel. And for one, crazy moment, it seemed that this uneducated prostitute he slept with on a habitual Friday knew more about the world than he did.
“They all come back, again and again, night after night. Not because they had a good time. Oh, no. It’s because they’re all terrified. Because, really, they’re all insignificant cogs in one big machine called society. And even if one is gone, there are many others to take their place, so that no one will be missing them. And they come here, because they want someone to remember them. And they’re paying good money, because night after night, they’ll have someone in their arms crying their name, and for an hour and a half, they will actually matter to someone.”
“And maybe, just maybe. After thousands of dollars spent,” Kyuhyun gasped when there was a hand at his crotch, and eyes looking down into his soul. “There will finally be someone to remember them.”
“But why?” Kyuhyun gasped, grasping at his words, as if they were the last resort to sanity.
“Human nature.”
And then, Sungmin kissed Kyuhyun hard on the lips.
~*~
The next week, Kyuhyun was standing on that olive doorstep again, pockets full of cash and rueful sigh on his lips.
He was human after all.
~*~