Super Junior AU; Hanchul; The Best Days of Our Lives
Title: The Best Days of Our Lives
Chapter: 10/25
Fandom: Super Junior AU (High School)
Pairing: Hankyung/crossdressing!Heechul (main), Kangin/Eeteuk, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, bestfriends!Eunhae.
Word count: 3,448
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Coming into a strange new world can be strange enough. Unfortunately, someone’s forgotten to tell Hankyung something Very Important.
A/N: This AU has taken over my life. I keep coming up with different scenes every day, and I don't want to write them all out here, because some of them don't fit in context, like scenes between Donghae and Kibum, or little drabble scenes between Heechul and Hankyung, so I might just write them and post them as extras. I'm not sure. After I've finished the main body of the story if I ever do.
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11
He woke up with a start, possibly because he was dying for the toilet which was manifesting itself in a very physical way and which would be very embarrassing to explain away if anyone else woke up and saw him. He pulled himself up and started towards the door: Sungmin shifted in his sleep and Hankyung’s feet got tangled up in the bedclothes and he fell onto Heechul.
“Ow,” said Heechul, and then paused. “You seem pleased to see me.”
“I need the toilet,” said Hankyung, glad that it was dark and therefore Heechul couldn’t see that he was currently very red.
“Ew,” said Heechul and pushed him away. “Go on then.”
When he came back, he wanted nothing more than to get back into his bed and sleep. Unfortunately, Heechul was sitting in his spot with his legs crossed, and he grinned at him. “Hey,” he said cheerfully. “Want to make out?”
Hankyung stared at him. “What?” He asked.
“To make up for lost time,” said Heechul.
Hankyung looked around him at everyone else fast asleep. “Here? Anyone could wake up and see.”
“Oh,” said Heechul. “I see.”
“Tell you what,” said Hankyung, because while he did want to go to sleep, Heechul was unlikely to let him now that he was awake, “why don’t we go for a walk?”
“A walk.” Heechul repeated.
“Yes,” said Hankyung desperately. “A walk. The sun should be coming up soon, we could watch that.”
“Oh,” said Heechul again. “Oh, that could be romantic, I suppose.” Hankyung wasn’t sure whether he thought this was a good thing or not - Heechul seemed to be frowning. He stood up. “Okay,” he said, “I’ll come.”
“Don’t force yourself,” said Hankyung, a trace of bitterness in his voice.
“Look,” said Heechul, and folded his arms over his chest. “Do you want me to come or not?”
“Yes,” said Hankyung.
“There you are then,” said Heechul, and picked his coat up. “Hurry up, I want to actually see this.”
Hankyung had wanted to see the sunrise too - it was actually something that he’d been looking forward to on the trip, but he had never quite managed it, because he kept sleeping in until the sunlight was already sliding over his face, which never failed to wake him up and explained why he had what amounted to blackout curtains on his windows at home. He thought it would be nice to watch it with Heechul, at the risk of sounding like a romantic sop.
Except Heechul fell asleep almost immediately, as he stretched out on the sand on his back, his pyjama bottoms tangled around his legs and his jacket riding up as he moved in his sleep. He kicked Hankyung more than once, but Hankyung had learnt from the first time and made no move to wake him up, not even when the sun was beginning to come up, staining the sky red and pink and a faint hint of yellow. The light turned Heechul’s hair slightly red as he slept, mouth slightly open.
After around half an hour, Heechul stirred and stretched like a cat, his back rising up off the ground and his jacket and the t-shirt he wore underneath pulling up to reveal the smooth skin of his stomach. He yawned and blinked. “Oh,” he said, with some surprise. “Did I miss it?”
“Yeah,” said Hankyung absentmindedly as he watched the waves break on the shore, the sky still slightly tinted with the colours of the sunrise. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
Heechul laughed lightly. “I’d say that that was a good choice.” He said. “Still, I’d liked to have seen it.”
“It made you think about things,” said Hankyung, still in his far away tone. “Things that you’ve never really thought about before.”
“You think too much,” said Heechul, and lay back down and closed his eyes.
Maybe he was right, thought Hankyung. Maybe I do think too much, and maybe that’s why I resisted for so long. I questioned everything, used my head far too much, and almost lost everything that I was thinking about. I was too busy thinking. I need to start acting.
He leant over and kissed Heechul softly, hands either side of his head and not touching him in any other way. One of Heechul’s arms rose from the sand and wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer, and he deepened the kiss as Heechul’s hand slid through his hair near his right ear. “You’re right,” murmured Hankyung against his lips. “I do think too much. I thought about this too hard, when I should have just accepted it. I’m not gay, but I really, really like you.”
“That’s nice to know,” said Heechul. “You talk too much, too.” He stretched up to kiss him again. Hankyung allowed himself a minute more, slipping his hand into the gap that had been created by Heechul’s jacket being zipped down, and touched his collar bone and shoulder softly. Heechul laughed. “That tickles,” he said, and arched his back as Hankyung’s mouth moved down his jaw and onto his neck.
It was a strange feeling, kissing Heechul. He didn’t have much facial hair, Hankyung had noticed that he barely needed to shave, but there was still the faint hint of stubble as Hankyung brushed his lips across the skin of Heechul’s neck. There was not the softness of feminine curves in Heechul’s body - this close, it was obvious that Heechul wasn’t what Hankyung had believed him to be, all sharp planes; his hip bone made an obvious point in the smooth line of his side, broke up what Hankyung could touch into above and below; his collar bone jutted out until Hankyung could scrape his nails over it; his legs were hard as they tangled in his own and pulled him down; and yet, Hankyung couldn’t bring himself to care.
“Come on,” said Hankyung, standing up and offering his hand. Heechul took it, smirking slightly, and as he stood up his hair fell out of the ponytail it had hurriedly been pushed back into as they’d been putting on their shoes, Heechul demanding that they hurry up so they could actually see the sunrise which he’d consequently missed. “We should probably go back before the others wake up and wonder where we’ve gone.”
“Maybe they’ll think we’re in the bathroom, like Kibum and Donghae,” said Heechul.
“God, I hope not,” said Hankyung, turning green at the memory. “I don’t want them thinking that, I can’t deal with them when they’re in embarrassment mode.”
“I’ll be a minute,” said Heechul, pushing his hair back again to get it out of his face as the wind slowly picked up. “You wanted to see the sunrise: I wanted to walk in the sea barefoot in the morning.”
“You’re such a liar,” said Hankyung with an amused grin.
“Okay,” admitted Heechul. “I made that up. I just don’t want to back in just yet. I don’t want to have to pack because that means I’m going home.”
“Okay,” said Hankyung. Heechul stared at him.
“You’re remarkably easy to coerce, you know that?”
“It’s been said before,” said Hankyung. “I’m going to go up to the top then, and sit on the dry sand. You can’t have too long though, because I’m not helping you pack.”
Heechul rolled his eyes. “Okay, mother,” he said. “I’ll get Siwon to do it anyway, he always does.”
Hankyung laughed, and made his way to the top of the beach, where he sat down on the sand there and watched Heechul as he slipped his trainers and socks off, rolled his bottoms up and, shoes held in one hand, waded into the sea, yelping at the cold water. Hankyung smiled slightly. Heechul kicked at something in the water, and then bent down and started looking intently for something.
“What are you doing?” Hankyung shouted, his voice almost carried away by the wind.
“I’m looking for one of those big shells,” shouted Heechul. “The ones where you hold them to your ear and you can hear the sea. I think Sungmin’s little sister will like it.”
“Does she like the sea?”
“She’s never seen it.” Hankyung could almost hear a wistful tone in Heechul’s voice. “She’s only five, you see, and we live so far away. I think Sungmin would appreciate it.”
There was silence as Heechul searched, save for the cries of the seagulls over head, and the soft rush of the early morning waves breaking on the shore. Heechul was almost knocked over, arm wind milling until he caught his balance, and he turned back towards Hankyung and laughed, the sound loud in the wake of the quiet. Hankyung found that he liked it.
Suddenly, and without any more warning than a yelp, Heechul crumpled to the ground and sat heavily in the water. It splashed up around him and seemed to get into his face; he coughed and rubbed at his eyes. “What happened there?” Hankyung asked, almost ready to start laughing, until he noticed that Heechul had a pained expression on his face, slight shock written in his eyes.
“I don’t know,” said Heechul. “But it really hurt. I think I’ve stood on some glass.”
Hankyung scrambled to his feet, almost slipping as the sand gave way underneath him and moved to the side. He ran down to where Heechul was, calling, “can you see it?”
“I think so,” said Heechul, holding his foot out of the water in a position which looked very uncomfortable, and gazing intently at it. “I think that’s it there.”
“Don’t pull it out,” called Hankyung, but it was too late - Heechul had already taken hold of it and pulled it out, and then looked surprised as the water around him began to swirl red with blood.
“I’m bleeding,” he told Hankyung matter-of-factly as Hankyung reached him.
“Of course you’re bleeding, you moron,” said Hankyung, bending down and looking at Heechul’s foot. “I told you not to pull it out.”
“Don’t call me a moron,” said Heechul with a frown. “I never heard you say that. It’s windy, you know.”
Hankyung sighed. “Fine,” he said. “Put it in the water to clean it, and then I’ll tie something around it to stop it bleeding.”
The glass, luckily, hadn’t gone too far into Heechul’s foot, but it had caused a long wound. Hankyung tied a piece of material from his vest top around it, and then hauled Heechul up, holding him under the one shoulder. “Come on,” he said. “I’m not carrying you or anything stupid like that, you’re soaking.”
“And they say chivalry’s dead,” said Heechul bitterly.
“You aren’t a girl.” Hankyung reminded him.
“Where the hell have you been?” Siwon was waiting for them at the door, and Hankyung was struck by the resemblance to an angry mother waiting for her child to arrive home at one o’clock in the morning. Not that he’d ever done that, added Hankyung quickly and then realised that he was correcting himself in his own head.
“You lot have turned me mad,” he announced as he reached Siwon, and also Yehsung, who appeared to have been waiting just inside the doorway in case Siwon managed to spot them. “He’s cut his foot on some glass in the sea.”
“What the heck were you doing in the sea?” Siwon asked as he slipped an arm under Heechul’s shoulder to help Hankyung. Hankyung was grateful for it - the journey had been spent with sore ears due to complaining.
“I wasn’t,” said Hankyung.
“I wanted to get a shell for Jaymin,” said Heechul, in a voice which suggested that he would not take any sort of scolding whatsoever for this.
Hankyung was slightly shocked to see so many of the group awake so early - it was, after all, merely seven-fifteen, and most of them would still be asleep at this point. It turned out that Eeteuk had been woken up by Kangin attempting a quiet trip to the bathroom that had gone as well as Hankyung’s own, because Kangin had slammed the door shut behind him. Eeteuk had jumped up, believing that they were under attack (he blamed the dream he was having), and had fell on Eunhyuk, Shindong and Ryeowook, which woke all three up. Ryeowook had insisted on waking Yehsung up, because he still had packing left to do - he was in the same situation as Heechul, which meant that he hadn’t even started. They had then traipsed down to the games room, leaving the others were they were - which happened to be hugging Kyuhyun like a teddy bear in Sungmin’s case, and trying to avoid any stray arms from a sleeping Donghae in an also sleeping Kibum’s case.
“We thought you two were already down here,” said Yehsung. “And when you weren’t we began to wonder where you were.” This was accompanied by a pointed look that Hankyung ignored.
They had been joined by Donghae and Siwon ten minutes later, because Kibum had kicked Donghae awake and told him to get out, and Donghae had tripped and fallen on Siwon while he was doing so. The two had started off the search to find Heechul when it turned out that the two were missing.
“I told you we should have left earlier,” said Hankyung. “And why were you so worried about Heechul? I mean, I was with him.”
“That’s why were worried. We didn’t know what he could have made you do.”
“That’s love for you,” said Heechul, and then he seemed to remember something and started batting his eyelids at Siwon. “Siwonnie,” he purred, “I won’t be able to pack with this terrible wound to my poor foot. Would you might terribly doing it for me?”
Siwon rolled his eyes. “Were you ever planning on doing it yourself?”
“Rella!” Donghae practically threw himself at Heechul when the older boy was half-carried through into the games room. “We were worried about you!”
“You’d think he’d run away to the circus or something,” said Hankyung in despair, although he noted the use of Heechul’s nickname, the first instance that he could think of.
“Why are you limping?” Eeteuk asked, rubbing at his eyes and sitting up from his usual position on Kangin’s chest.
“Because I felt like it,” snapped Heechul, hoisting himself up onto one of the tables dotted around the room. “Because I’ve hurt my foot, is your eyesight going in your old age?”
“Oh great,” said Siwon, as he looked in the cupboards for the first aid box. “Now he’s grumpy.”
”Stop being nasty to Eeteuk,” said Hankyung to Heechul. “It’s not his fault that you cut yourself.”
“You have an annoying habit of pointing out the useless truth,” said Heechul, glaring at him. “Is someone going to sort my foot out for me, or am I going to have to do it myself and trail blood everywhere?”
“The box is in the kitchen,” said Eunhyuk, seeming to suddenly remember. “I had to get it when that crab attacked Yehsung.”
“I thought we’d agreed to not mention that,” said Yehsung, annoyed, as Ryeowook sniggered behind his hands.
“I’ll get it,” said Eunhyuk, jumped up off the sofa he’d been sharing with Ryeowook and raced out of the room. Siwon helped Heechul to sit up on one of the counter units, his back against the wall, where he could get a better look at the injury. Donghae helped to unravel the bandage, and he turned to Hankyung when it was finished.
“You’ll never make a doctor,” he said.
“Then it’s a good job that I don’t want to be one, then, isn’t it?” Hankyung replied, slightly annoyed.
“This looks like it hurts,” said Siwon.
“How clever of you to work that out,” said Heechul sarcastically. “Are you going to have to amputate it?”
“I don’t know,” said Siwon seriously. “It’s bleeding quite a lot.” Heechul hit him on the head.
“Apparently,” said Hankyung mildly, because Heechul had screamed this at him more than once, “you can’t walk without putting your foot on the floor. You could probably mark our progress, if you wanted.”
“How?” Donghae asked, before he realised and screwed up his face in disgust.
“It was slow,” said Hankyung.
“That explains the sand, then,” said Siwon, and attempted to brush some off and only managed to gain a scream from Heechul.
“This sounds like fun,” said Yehsung, and came and stood next to Heechul. “Anything that causes him pain is bound to be.”
“Fuck you,” said Heechul, with angry tears of pain in his eyes.
Eunhyuk returned with the much anticipated first aid kit, and he ignored Heechul’s demands to know what had taken him so long. Sungmin wandered in behind him, still yawning though he was dressed. Hankyung realised that he was still in his pyjamas, shrugged it off, and then sat down in one of the armchairs, where Heechul was not likely to be able to hit him for anything.
“What’s going on?” Sungmin asked, looking around him.
“Heechul’s cut his foot,” said Donghae.
“How on earth did you manage that?” Sungmin asked, sitting down on the arm of the sofa that Ryeowook had spread himself along to stop Eunhyuk from sitting back down.
“I was looking for a shell for your little sister, and I stood on some glass,” said Heechul, glaring at Sungmin, “and therefore I blame you for it.”
“I had nothing to do with it,” said Sungmin. “There really is no talking to you when you’re like this.”
Heechul snarled at him, and then seemed to see the funny side of the situation, because he started laughing slightly, covering it with his hand, and pushing his hair back with the other. “It was fun,” he said to Hankyung, “but let’s never do it again.”
“I think what you’re looking for is never let you do it again,” said Hankyung.
Siwon pulled out the bandages then, after rummaging around and pulling far too many items out of a box that could not possibly have held them, and then, as an afterthought, picked up the antiseptic spray.
“This is going to hurt,” he said, a little unsure as to what he thought he was doing.
“Just do it,” said Heechul.
“I need to be sure, though,” said Siwon. “I need to be sure that you won’t attack me for it.”
“I won’t attack you for it,” said Heechul.
Siwon quickly cleaned the wound of the sand, and then sprayed it with the antiseptic. Heechul clenched his teeth, gave a slight yelp, and then hit Donghae very hard on the top of his head.
“What?” He asked, as Siwon gave him a nasty look, and Donghae gave him a hurt look. “I never said I wouldn’t attack anyone else for it. You’re the one who should be feeling guilty, because you’re the one who wouldn’t take it for yourself.”
“You are a sick boy,” said Siwon, and started packing the things away. Before long, Hankyung joined them at the counter to try to get everything back in, while the others laughed loudly at their attempts.
Suddenly, Ryeowook’s phone went off, the popular song that was his ring tone not interfering with the banter going on in the room. Ryeowook, still laughing over something with Sungmin, picked it up and flipped it open, answering it with an easy “Hello?” He went quiet very quickly, although only Sungmin seemed to notice.
“Yes,” said Ryeowook. “I understand. I’m coming home today any - I’ll get the first train back. Yes. Thank you.”
“What’s wrong?” Sungmin asked, forcing his voice to remain light and neutral, though he looked nervous. Ryeowook didn’t answer: he closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them, they were slightly too bright, and they kept darting around him, unable to focus on one thing for more than a second. He stood up slowly, and Sungmin caught him by the sleeve of his arm, but Ryeowook didn’t look at him.
The room grew quiet; Yehsung put down the bandage he was holding, just as Ryeowook took a step forward, and then another, until he was walking fairly normally, though his back remained almost too straight. He walked over to Yehsung, and wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him close, burying his face in Yehsung’s neck.
“Hey,” said Yehsung, folding his arms around Ryeowook’s waist. “What’s wrong, what’s happened?”
Ryeowook didn’t answer immediately; he paused, and his shoulders shook for a second, and then he seemed to shudder before falling perfectly still.
“It’s my father,” he said, and his voice should have been muffled but it seemed too loud and clear for Hankyung’s ears. “He’s dead.”
Chapter: 10/25
Fandom: Super Junior AU (High School)
Pairing: Hankyung/crossdressing!Heechul (main), Kangin/Eeteuk, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, bestfriends!Eunhae.
Word count: 3,448
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Coming into a strange new world can be strange enough. Unfortunately, someone’s forgotten to tell Hankyung something Very Important.
A/N: This AU has taken over my life. I keep coming up with different scenes every day, and I don't want to write them all out here, because some of them don't fit in context, like scenes between Donghae and Kibum, or little drabble scenes between Heechul and Hankyung, so I might just write them and post them as extras. I'm not sure. After I've finished the main body of the story if I ever do.
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11
He woke up with a start, possibly because he was dying for the toilet which was manifesting itself in a very physical way and which would be very embarrassing to explain away if anyone else woke up and saw him. He pulled himself up and started towards the door: Sungmin shifted in his sleep and Hankyung’s feet got tangled up in the bedclothes and he fell onto Heechul.
“Ow,” said Heechul, and then paused. “You seem pleased to see me.”
“I need the toilet,” said Hankyung, glad that it was dark and therefore Heechul couldn’t see that he was currently very red.
“Ew,” said Heechul and pushed him away. “Go on then.”
When he came back, he wanted nothing more than to get back into his bed and sleep. Unfortunately, Heechul was sitting in his spot with his legs crossed, and he grinned at him. “Hey,” he said cheerfully. “Want to make out?”
Hankyung stared at him. “What?” He asked.
“To make up for lost time,” said Heechul.
Hankyung looked around him at everyone else fast asleep. “Here? Anyone could wake up and see.”
“Oh,” said Heechul. “I see.”
“Tell you what,” said Hankyung, because while he did want to go to sleep, Heechul was unlikely to let him now that he was awake, “why don’t we go for a walk?”
“A walk.” Heechul repeated.
“Yes,” said Hankyung desperately. “A walk. The sun should be coming up soon, we could watch that.”
“Oh,” said Heechul again. “Oh, that could be romantic, I suppose.” Hankyung wasn’t sure whether he thought this was a good thing or not - Heechul seemed to be frowning. He stood up. “Okay,” he said, “I’ll come.”
“Don’t force yourself,” said Hankyung, a trace of bitterness in his voice.
“Look,” said Heechul, and folded his arms over his chest. “Do you want me to come or not?”
“Yes,” said Hankyung.
“There you are then,” said Heechul, and picked his coat up. “Hurry up, I want to actually see this.”
Hankyung had wanted to see the sunrise too - it was actually something that he’d been looking forward to on the trip, but he had never quite managed it, because he kept sleeping in until the sunlight was already sliding over his face, which never failed to wake him up and explained why he had what amounted to blackout curtains on his windows at home. He thought it would be nice to watch it with Heechul, at the risk of sounding like a romantic sop.
Except Heechul fell asleep almost immediately, as he stretched out on the sand on his back, his pyjama bottoms tangled around his legs and his jacket riding up as he moved in his sleep. He kicked Hankyung more than once, but Hankyung had learnt from the first time and made no move to wake him up, not even when the sun was beginning to come up, staining the sky red and pink and a faint hint of yellow. The light turned Heechul’s hair slightly red as he slept, mouth slightly open.
After around half an hour, Heechul stirred and stretched like a cat, his back rising up off the ground and his jacket and the t-shirt he wore underneath pulling up to reveal the smooth skin of his stomach. He yawned and blinked. “Oh,” he said, with some surprise. “Did I miss it?”
“Yeah,” said Hankyung absentmindedly as he watched the waves break on the shore, the sky still slightly tinted with the colours of the sunrise. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
Heechul laughed lightly. “I’d say that that was a good choice.” He said. “Still, I’d liked to have seen it.”
“It made you think about things,” said Hankyung, still in his far away tone. “Things that you’ve never really thought about before.”
“You think too much,” said Heechul, and lay back down and closed his eyes.
Maybe he was right, thought Hankyung. Maybe I do think too much, and maybe that’s why I resisted for so long. I questioned everything, used my head far too much, and almost lost everything that I was thinking about. I was too busy thinking. I need to start acting.
He leant over and kissed Heechul softly, hands either side of his head and not touching him in any other way. One of Heechul’s arms rose from the sand and wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer, and he deepened the kiss as Heechul’s hand slid through his hair near his right ear. “You’re right,” murmured Hankyung against his lips. “I do think too much. I thought about this too hard, when I should have just accepted it. I’m not gay, but I really, really like you.”
“That’s nice to know,” said Heechul. “You talk too much, too.” He stretched up to kiss him again. Hankyung allowed himself a minute more, slipping his hand into the gap that had been created by Heechul’s jacket being zipped down, and touched his collar bone and shoulder softly. Heechul laughed. “That tickles,” he said, and arched his back as Hankyung’s mouth moved down his jaw and onto his neck.
It was a strange feeling, kissing Heechul. He didn’t have much facial hair, Hankyung had noticed that he barely needed to shave, but there was still the faint hint of stubble as Hankyung brushed his lips across the skin of Heechul’s neck. There was not the softness of feminine curves in Heechul’s body - this close, it was obvious that Heechul wasn’t what Hankyung had believed him to be, all sharp planes; his hip bone made an obvious point in the smooth line of his side, broke up what Hankyung could touch into above and below; his collar bone jutted out until Hankyung could scrape his nails over it; his legs were hard as they tangled in his own and pulled him down; and yet, Hankyung couldn’t bring himself to care.
“Come on,” said Hankyung, standing up and offering his hand. Heechul took it, smirking slightly, and as he stood up his hair fell out of the ponytail it had hurriedly been pushed back into as they’d been putting on their shoes, Heechul demanding that they hurry up so they could actually see the sunrise which he’d consequently missed. “We should probably go back before the others wake up and wonder where we’ve gone.”
“Maybe they’ll think we’re in the bathroom, like Kibum and Donghae,” said Heechul.
“God, I hope not,” said Hankyung, turning green at the memory. “I don’t want them thinking that, I can’t deal with them when they’re in embarrassment mode.”
“I’ll be a minute,” said Heechul, pushing his hair back again to get it out of his face as the wind slowly picked up. “You wanted to see the sunrise: I wanted to walk in the sea barefoot in the morning.”
“You’re such a liar,” said Hankyung with an amused grin.
“Okay,” admitted Heechul. “I made that up. I just don’t want to back in just yet. I don’t want to have to pack because that means I’m going home.”
“Okay,” said Hankyung. Heechul stared at him.
“You’re remarkably easy to coerce, you know that?”
“It’s been said before,” said Hankyung. “I’m going to go up to the top then, and sit on the dry sand. You can’t have too long though, because I’m not helping you pack.”
Heechul rolled his eyes. “Okay, mother,” he said. “I’ll get Siwon to do it anyway, he always does.”
Hankyung laughed, and made his way to the top of the beach, where he sat down on the sand there and watched Heechul as he slipped his trainers and socks off, rolled his bottoms up and, shoes held in one hand, waded into the sea, yelping at the cold water. Hankyung smiled slightly. Heechul kicked at something in the water, and then bent down and started looking intently for something.
“What are you doing?” Hankyung shouted, his voice almost carried away by the wind.
“I’m looking for one of those big shells,” shouted Heechul. “The ones where you hold them to your ear and you can hear the sea. I think Sungmin’s little sister will like it.”
“Does she like the sea?”
“She’s never seen it.” Hankyung could almost hear a wistful tone in Heechul’s voice. “She’s only five, you see, and we live so far away. I think Sungmin would appreciate it.”
There was silence as Heechul searched, save for the cries of the seagulls over head, and the soft rush of the early morning waves breaking on the shore. Heechul was almost knocked over, arm wind milling until he caught his balance, and he turned back towards Hankyung and laughed, the sound loud in the wake of the quiet. Hankyung found that he liked it.
Suddenly, and without any more warning than a yelp, Heechul crumpled to the ground and sat heavily in the water. It splashed up around him and seemed to get into his face; he coughed and rubbed at his eyes. “What happened there?” Hankyung asked, almost ready to start laughing, until he noticed that Heechul had a pained expression on his face, slight shock written in his eyes.
“I don’t know,” said Heechul. “But it really hurt. I think I’ve stood on some glass.”
Hankyung scrambled to his feet, almost slipping as the sand gave way underneath him and moved to the side. He ran down to where Heechul was, calling, “can you see it?”
“I think so,” said Heechul, holding his foot out of the water in a position which looked very uncomfortable, and gazing intently at it. “I think that’s it there.”
“Don’t pull it out,” called Hankyung, but it was too late - Heechul had already taken hold of it and pulled it out, and then looked surprised as the water around him began to swirl red with blood.
“I’m bleeding,” he told Hankyung matter-of-factly as Hankyung reached him.
“Of course you’re bleeding, you moron,” said Hankyung, bending down and looking at Heechul’s foot. “I told you not to pull it out.”
“Don’t call me a moron,” said Heechul with a frown. “I never heard you say that. It’s windy, you know.”
Hankyung sighed. “Fine,” he said. “Put it in the water to clean it, and then I’ll tie something around it to stop it bleeding.”
The glass, luckily, hadn’t gone too far into Heechul’s foot, but it had caused a long wound. Hankyung tied a piece of material from his vest top around it, and then hauled Heechul up, holding him under the one shoulder. “Come on,” he said. “I’m not carrying you or anything stupid like that, you’re soaking.”
“And they say chivalry’s dead,” said Heechul bitterly.
“You aren’t a girl.” Hankyung reminded him.
“Where the hell have you been?” Siwon was waiting for them at the door, and Hankyung was struck by the resemblance to an angry mother waiting for her child to arrive home at one o’clock in the morning. Not that he’d ever done that, added Hankyung quickly and then realised that he was correcting himself in his own head.
“You lot have turned me mad,” he announced as he reached Siwon, and also Yehsung, who appeared to have been waiting just inside the doorway in case Siwon managed to spot them. “He’s cut his foot on some glass in the sea.”
“What the heck were you doing in the sea?” Siwon asked as he slipped an arm under Heechul’s shoulder to help Hankyung. Hankyung was grateful for it - the journey had been spent with sore ears due to complaining.
“I wasn’t,” said Hankyung.
“I wanted to get a shell for Jaymin,” said Heechul, in a voice which suggested that he would not take any sort of scolding whatsoever for this.
Hankyung was slightly shocked to see so many of the group awake so early - it was, after all, merely seven-fifteen, and most of them would still be asleep at this point. It turned out that Eeteuk had been woken up by Kangin attempting a quiet trip to the bathroom that had gone as well as Hankyung’s own, because Kangin had slammed the door shut behind him. Eeteuk had jumped up, believing that they were under attack (he blamed the dream he was having), and had fell on Eunhyuk, Shindong and Ryeowook, which woke all three up. Ryeowook had insisted on waking Yehsung up, because he still had packing left to do - he was in the same situation as Heechul, which meant that he hadn’t even started. They had then traipsed down to the games room, leaving the others were they were - which happened to be hugging Kyuhyun like a teddy bear in Sungmin’s case, and trying to avoid any stray arms from a sleeping Donghae in an also sleeping Kibum’s case.
“We thought you two were already down here,” said Yehsung. “And when you weren’t we began to wonder where you were.” This was accompanied by a pointed look that Hankyung ignored.
They had been joined by Donghae and Siwon ten minutes later, because Kibum had kicked Donghae awake and told him to get out, and Donghae had tripped and fallen on Siwon while he was doing so. The two had started off the search to find Heechul when it turned out that the two were missing.
“I told you we should have left earlier,” said Hankyung. “And why were you so worried about Heechul? I mean, I was with him.”
“That’s why were worried. We didn’t know what he could have made you do.”
“That’s love for you,” said Heechul, and then he seemed to remember something and started batting his eyelids at Siwon. “Siwonnie,” he purred, “I won’t be able to pack with this terrible wound to my poor foot. Would you might terribly doing it for me?”
Siwon rolled his eyes. “Were you ever planning on doing it yourself?”
“Rella!” Donghae practically threw himself at Heechul when the older boy was half-carried through into the games room. “We were worried about you!”
“You’d think he’d run away to the circus or something,” said Hankyung in despair, although he noted the use of Heechul’s nickname, the first instance that he could think of.
“Why are you limping?” Eeteuk asked, rubbing at his eyes and sitting up from his usual position on Kangin’s chest.
“Because I felt like it,” snapped Heechul, hoisting himself up onto one of the tables dotted around the room. “Because I’ve hurt my foot, is your eyesight going in your old age?”
“Oh great,” said Siwon, as he looked in the cupboards for the first aid box. “Now he’s grumpy.”
”Stop being nasty to Eeteuk,” said Hankyung to Heechul. “It’s not his fault that you cut yourself.”
“You have an annoying habit of pointing out the useless truth,” said Heechul, glaring at him. “Is someone going to sort my foot out for me, or am I going to have to do it myself and trail blood everywhere?”
“The box is in the kitchen,” said Eunhyuk, seeming to suddenly remember. “I had to get it when that crab attacked Yehsung.”
“I thought we’d agreed to not mention that,” said Yehsung, annoyed, as Ryeowook sniggered behind his hands.
“I’ll get it,” said Eunhyuk, jumped up off the sofa he’d been sharing with Ryeowook and raced out of the room. Siwon helped Heechul to sit up on one of the counter units, his back against the wall, where he could get a better look at the injury. Donghae helped to unravel the bandage, and he turned to Hankyung when it was finished.
“You’ll never make a doctor,” he said.
“Then it’s a good job that I don’t want to be one, then, isn’t it?” Hankyung replied, slightly annoyed.
“This looks like it hurts,” said Siwon.
“How clever of you to work that out,” said Heechul sarcastically. “Are you going to have to amputate it?”
“I don’t know,” said Siwon seriously. “It’s bleeding quite a lot.” Heechul hit him on the head.
“Apparently,” said Hankyung mildly, because Heechul had screamed this at him more than once, “you can’t walk without putting your foot on the floor. You could probably mark our progress, if you wanted.”
“How?” Donghae asked, before he realised and screwed up his face in disgust.
“It was slow,” said Hankyung.
“That explains the sand, then,” said Siwon, and attempted to brush some off and only managed to gain a scream from Heechul.
“This sounds like fun,” said Yehsung, and came and stood next to Heechul. “Anything that causes him pain is bound to be.”
“Fuck you,” said Heechul, with angry tears of pain in his eyes.
Eunhyuk returned with the much anticipated first aid kit, and he ignored Heechul’s demands to know what had taken him so long. Sungmin wandered in behind him, still yawning though he was dressed. Hankyung realised that he was still in his pyjamas, shrugged it off, and then sat down in one of the armchairs, where Heechul was not likely to be able to hit him for anything.
“What’s going on?” Sungmin asked, looking around him.
“Heechul’s cut his foot,” said Donghae.
“How on earth did you manage that?” Sungmin asked, sitting down on the arm of the sofa that Ryeowook had spread himself along to stop Eunhyuk from sitting back down.
“I was looking for a shell for your little sister, and I stood on some glass,” said Heechul, glaring at Sungmin, “and therefore I blame you for it.”
“I had nothing to do with it,” said Sungmin. “There really is no talking to you when you’re like this.”
Heechul snarled at him, and then seemed to see the funny side of the situation, because he started laughing slightly, covering it with his hand, and pushing his hair back with the other. “It was fun,” he said to Hankyung, “but let’s never do it again.”
“I think what you’re looking for is never let you do it again,” said Hankyung.
Siwon pulled out the bandages then, after rummaging around and pulling far too many items out of a box that could not possibly have held them, and then, as an afterthought, picked up the antiseptic spray.
“This is going to hurt,” he said, a little unsure as to what he thought he was doing.
“Just do it,” said Heechul.
“I need to be sure, though,” said Siwon. “I need to be sure that you won’t attack me for it.”
“I won’t attack you for it,” said Heechul.
Siwon quickly cleaned the wound of the sand, and then sprayed it with the antiseptic. Heechul clenched his teeth, gave a slight yelp, and then hit Donghae very hard on the top of his head.
“What?” He asked, as Siwon gave him a nasty look, and Donghae gave him a hurt look. “I never said I wouldn’t attack anyone else for it. You’re the one who should be feeling guilty, because you’re the one who wouldn’t take it for yourself.”
“You are a sick boy,” said Siwon, and started packing the things away. Before long, Hankyung joined them at the counter to try to get everything back in, while the others laughed loudly at their attempts.
Suddenly, Ryeowook’s phone went off, the popular song that was his ring tone not interfering with the banter going on in the room. Ryeowook, still laughing over something with Sungmin, picked it up and flipped it open, answering it with an easy “Hello?” He went quiet very quickly, although only Sungmin seemed to notice.
“Yes,” said Ryeowook. “I understand. I’m coming home today any - I’ll get the first train back. Yes. Thank you.”
“What’s wrong?” Sungmin asked, forcing his voice to remain light and neutral, though he looked nervous. Ryeowook didn’t answer: he closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them, they were slightly too bright, and they kept darting around him, unable to focus on one thing for more than a second. He stood up slowly, and Sungmin caught him by the sleeve of his arm, but Ryeowook didn’t look at him.
The room grew quiet; Yehsung put down the bandage he was holding, just as Ryeowook took a step forward, and then another, until he was walking fairly normally, though his back remained almost too straight. He walked over to Yehsung, and wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him close, burying his face in Yehsung’s neck.
“Hey,” said Yehsung, folding his arms around Ryeowook’s waist. “What’s wrong, what’s happened?”
Ryeowook didn’t answer immediately; he paused, and his shoulders shook for a second, and then he seemed to shudder before falling perfectly still.
“It’s my father,” he said, and his voice should have been muffled but it seemed too loud and clear for Hankyung’s ears. “He’s dead.”