catch/fall (open challenge; drabble challenge 59: aftershock)
title catch/fall
author drugsex
word count 1147
concrit yup
pairing yoochun/junsu; yunho/junsu(-ish)
rating g
they finally get a day off, and everyone pretty much spends it to themselves, scattered around different parts of the apartment. by mid-afternoon, a dull ache starts in the bottom of yunho's neck and he knows that it's slowly making its way to becoming a massive headache. he presses his fingers to the bridge of his nose, lets the book in his lap slip closed and debates whether or not to take a trip to the kitchen to get the aspirin now as a preventative measure or wait until it gets bad enough to actually complain about.
he's about to get up when there's some thumping and what sounds like furniture being moved around upstairs, and he hears junsu's and changmin's voice coming down the stairs-did you get all the wires?-yeah, did you get the game?-yes, just move!
yunho sees them bringing the upstairs couch downstairs, junsu manning the front and changmin the other end, the xbox 360 tucked underneath his right arm. it's not a small couch either, and yunho's not quite sure why they're carrying it down in the first place, and just when he turns his head to mark his place in the book before going over to help them, he hears a noise that he's never, ever heard before.
the scream that rips itself out of junsu hits yunho like a speeding train. his fingers are caught in some impossible angle between the stairs and one of the legs of the sofa. yunho watches as junsu's entire lower half gives way with a gut-wrenching scream, back shaking, his head between his legs, spluttering low gasps stuck to the wall of his throat.
all yunho can remember thinking is, shit why didn't i tell them not to, before he runs over and drops to his knees in front of junsu, who's making these deep, wheezing gulps, trying to breathe through the tears. he hears changmin in the background pulling the couch back up to the landing, going fuck, i'm so sorry, it slipped from my hands, fuck, i didn't mean to.
yunho tries to get as close to junsu as he can, but he can't see his hands or face. junsu's folded over, hands caught between his chest and the tops of his thighs, and when he isn't coughing, he's absolutely silent, back shaking with the force of the noises that aren't making it past his throat. yunho's scared to touch him and he can feel changmin watching him, waiting for him to just do something already.
get some ice, yunho finally gets out. changmin nods and runs down the stairs past him.
yunho takes a deep breath and finally grabs junsu by the shoulders and forces him up so he can see the damage. his knuckles are swollen purple already, the blood straining against the surface of his skin. yunho can't tell if junsu isn't uncurling his hand because he doesn't want to let him see or if he can't do it. he tries to touch him and junsu jerks back.
junsu, yunho pleads, junsu, please, you have to let me see.
junsu looks up at him, nods and swallows. he slowly starts to uncurl his hand, and yunho winces when he hears the hiss that comes out of him. yunho sees every vein popping in junsu's forearm and wonders where the hell everybody is, because it seems like they've been the only two people in the entire world for the past five minutes.
yunho hears one of the bedroom doors slam, and then yoochun's there, a plastic bag full of ice in his hand, and yunho finally feels some semblance of relief.
"yunho, move."
yunho stumbles off the last step and stands behind them. yoochun is firm and strong-handed, pushing junsu's hair back. yoochun sets the ice down and squeezes junsu's shoulders.
junsu, he says. junsu, hey. he cups junsu around the neck, fingers through his hair, presses his forehead to the top of junsu's head. he's whispering, c'mon, c'mon, it's okay, lemme see, his lips against junsu's bangs, his eyes closed, and it takes yunho a minute of putting things together before he's suddenly thinking, oh, leaning back off his knees and standing.
he doesn't really know what he's looking at, or if there's even anything there at all, but he decides whatever it is he probably shouldn't be watching.
he notices changmin and jaejoong off to the side. jaejoong's asking changmin for clarification about the entire situation, changmin answering something about wanting to play downstairs and how they both liked playing on that particular couch more than the one already downstairs. yunho makes his way over and changmin starts spouting apologies again, and yunho can do nothing but murmur, it's okay, it's not your fault. it's not changmin that he's worried about.
what he's worried about is the muffled sob that comes from across the room.
they're a tangle of elbows and shoulders, and junsu's back is still shaking, his face in yoochun's neck.
yoochun has one hand under junsu's hurt one, holding it up, pressing the ice to it with his other, arm hooked around junsu's back, mouth pressed to junsu's shoulder, his neck, then-
yunho blinks and looks away, his eyes burning with the scene.
-
the doctor tells them it's called a boxer's fracture, a break in the fourth metacarpal, that he'll be in cast for a month and then it'll be as good as new.
junsu nods curtly in understanding and turns to face the rest of them.
"a boxer's fracture sounds so much more badass than dropping a sofa on my hand." he jokes.
he's met by reluctant half-hearted smiles. changmin looks down at his shoes and jaejoong looks at yunho with what looks a lot like pity. yunho doesn't like it, crosses his arms and sits up straighter in the plastic chair, and watches yoochun not meet his eyes.
"but i guess you all know what this means," junsu continues after an awkwardly long pause. yunho feels like he should say something, something generic and cookie-cutter to lighten the atmosphere but it almost feels like he's been stripped of all the qualities a leader should possess.
"what?" jaejoong finally answers in yunho's place.
"it means all of you have to do everything i say for a month!"
yunho doesn't know why, but he sighs in relief. changmin finally smiles, jaejoong chuckles and yoochun retorts
"you wish, you spoilt little baby."
but yunho sees the way yoochun's voice is soft and his eyes watery
the way yoochun is holding junsu's other hand, thumb grazing over the peaks and troughs of junsu's knuckles
and guesses that yoochun is bluffing.
they leave the hospital with junsu in a neon orange fiberglass cast and yunho wondering if he knows anything at all about the people he's spent the better part of a decade with.
-
it takes yunho a week to find the courage to ask him for how long, did everyone else know, why didn't anyone tell him?
you should've known, he answers.
yeah, yunho echoes. i should've.
author drugsex
word count 1147
concrit yup
pairing yoochun/junsu; yunho/junsu(-ish)
rating g
they finally get a day off, and everyone pretty much spends it to themselves, scattered around different parts of the apartment. by mid-afternoon, a dull ache starts in the bottom of yunho's neck and he knows that it's slowly making its way to becoming a massive headache. he presses his fingers to the bridge of his nose, lets the book in his lap slip closed and debates whether or not to take a trip to the kitchen to get the aspirin now as a preventative measure or wait until it gets bad enough to actually complain about.
he's about to get up when there's some thumping and what sounds like furniture being moved around upstairs, and he hears junsu's and changmin's voice coming down the stairs-did you get all the wires?-yeah, did you get the game?-yes, just move!
yunho sees them bringing the upstairs couch downstairs, junsu manning the front and changmin the other end, the xbox 360 tucked underneath his right arm. it's not a small couch either, and yunho's not quite sure why they're carrying it down in the first place, and just when he turns his head to mark his place in the book before going over to help them, he hears a noise that he's never, ever heard before.
the scream that rips itself out of junsu hits yunho like a speeding train. his fingers are caught in some impossible angle between the stairs and one of the legs of the sofa. yunho watches as junsu's entire lower half gives way with a gut-wrenching scream, back shaking, his head between his legs, spluttering low gasps stuck to the wall of his throat.
all yunho can remember thinking is, shit why didn't i tell them not to, before he runs over and drops to his knees in front of junsu, who's making these deep, wheezing gulps, trying to breathe through the tears. he hears changmin in the background pulling the couch back up to the landing, going fuck, i'm so sorry, it slipped from my hands, fuck, i didn't mean to.
yunho tries to get as close to junsu as he can, but he can't see his hands or face. junsu's folded over, hands caught between his chest and the tops of his thighs, and when he isn't coughing, he's absolutely silent, back shaking with the force of the noises that aren't making it past his throat. yunho's scared to touch him and he can feel changmin watching him, waiting for him to just do something already.
get some ice, yunho finally gets out. changmin nods and runs down the stairs past him.
yunho takes a deep breath and finally grabs junsu by the shoulders and forces him up so he can see the damage. his knuckles are swollen purple already, the blood straining against the surface of his skin. yunho can't tell if junsu isn't uncurling his hand because he doesn't want to let him see or if he can't do it. he tries to touch him and junsu jerks back.
junsu, yunho pleads, junsu, please, you have to let me see.
junsu looks up at him, nods and swallows. he slowly starts to uncurl his hand, and yunho winces when he hears the hiss that comes out of him. yunho sees every vein popping in junsu's forearm and wonders where the hell everybody is, because it seems like they've been the only two people in the entire world for the past five minutes.
yunho hears one of the bedroom doors slam, and then yoochun's there, a plastic bag full of ice in his hand, and yunho finally feels some semblance of relief.
"yunho, move."
yunho stumbles off the last step and stands behind them. yoochun is firm and strong-handed, pushing junsu's hair back. yoochun sets the ice down and squeezes junsu's shoulders.
junsu, he says. junsu, hey. he cups junsu around the neck, fingers through his hair, presses his forehead to the top of junsu's head. he's whispering, c'mon, c'mon, it's okay, lemme see, his lips against junsu's bangs, his eyes closed, and it takes yunho a minute of putting things together before he's suddenly thinking, oh, leaning back off his knees and standing.
he doesn't really know what he's looking at, or if there's even anything there at all, but he decides whatever it is he probably shouldn't be watching.
he notices changmin and jaejoong off to the side. jaejoong's asking changmin for clarification about the entire situation, changmin answering something about wanting to play downstairs and how they both liked playing on that particular couch more than the one already downstairs. yunho makes his way over and changmin starts spouting apologies again, and yunho can do nothing but murmur, it's okay, it's not your fault. it's not changmin that he's worried about.
what he's worried about is the muffled sob that comes from across the room.
they're a tangle of elbows and shoulders, and junsu's back is still shaking, his face in yoochun's neck.
yoochun has one hand under junsu's hurt one, holding it up, pressing the ice to it with his other, arm hooked around junsu's back, mouth pressed to junsu's shoulder, his neck, then-
yunho blinks and looks away, his eyes burning with the scene.
-
the doctor tells them it's called a boxer's fracture, a break in the fourth metacarpal, that he'll be in cast for a month and then it'll be as good as new.
junsu nods curtly in understanding and turns to face the rest of them.
"a boxer's fracture sounds so much more badass than dropping a sofa on my hand." he jokes.
he's met by reluctant half-hearted smiles. changmin looks down at his shoes and jaejoong looks at yunho with what looks a lot like pity. yunho doesn't like it, crosses his arms and sits up straighter in the plastic chair, and watches yoochun not meet his eyes.
"but i guess you all know what this means," junsu continues after an awkwardly long pause. yunho feels like he should say something, something generic and cookie-cutter to lighten the atmosphere but it almost feels like he's been stripped of all the qualities a leader should possess.
"what?" jaejoong finally answers in yunho's place.
"it means all of you have to do everything i say for a month!"
yunho doesn't know why, but he sighs in relief. changmin finally smiles, jaejoong chuckles and yoochun retorts
"you wish, you spoilt little baby."
but yunho sees the way yoochun's voice is soft and his eyes watery
the way yoochun is holding junsu's other hand, thumb grazing over the peaks and troughs of junsu's knuckles
and guesses that yoochun is bluffing.
they leave the hospital with junsu in a neon orange fiberglass cast and yunho wondering if he knows anything at all about the people he's spent the better part of a decade with.
-
it takes yunho a week to find the courage to ask him for how long, did everyone else know, why didn't anyone tell him?
you should've known, he answers.
yeah, yunho echoes. i should've.