[fic] dependent
Dependent [1/3?]
Kyuhyun/Sungmin, Eeteuk; PG-13 (for language, may change); 2969 words; chaptered
When Kyuhyun leaves for SJ-M promotions the first time, Sungmin just doesn’t know what to say.
a/n: I was going to share sungmin/girl!kyu or kyuhyun/girl!min first but my plots evolved and drew themselves out, so I thought I would start with this. All that I have written was done 2 months ago; at this point, the ending is sort of abrupt like my previous fic, but we will see how it goes. Sorry for any angst or Sungmin seeming weak, I didn’t mean to play into any stereotypes. PS, this takes place in 2008.
part 01 | part 02 | part 03
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Sungmin is mute when Kyuhyun leaves. He watches from the doorway as his roommate packs a bag on his bed. There are already four stacked near the front door with Ryeowook's six and Hankyung's five, creating a road block that Heechul screamed about an hour ago when he came down to steal from their refrigerator. Donghae will come down soon and they'll meet Siwon in the van when it comes to pick them up to take them to the airport. After observing Kyuhyun's back for five minutes - Sungmin can see his spine shifting under the cotton of his thin, white v-neck t-shirt - he turns and heads down the hall with tears building in his eyes. He wants to go to Ryeowook to cry but then he remembers he's leaving, too. He wants to go back to his own room to cry alone then but that's where the problem is currently preparing to abandon him.
Defeated, Sungmin turns around and braves the roadblock of suitcases to leave the dorm and take the stairs up to the 12th floor, where he hopes Eeteuk isn't too busy to hold him while he cries.
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Sometime later, Sungmin slowly returns to consciousness, eyes aching and surely swollen. He murmurs to himself, wondering why he's woken up or when he even fell asleep to begin with, before he realizes someone is calling his name and a warm hand is stroking his back in a soothing manner, up and down. He pries his tired eyes open to see if Eeteuk has come to call him to dinner when he registers Kyuhyun's blurry face hovering over him.
"Sungmin," he says quietly, voice deep and soothing, just like always. "I have to go now; what are you doing up here?"
Sungmin doesn't reply - doesn't trust his voice not to crack, or his eyes not to begin watering again - but instead reaches out and pulls Kyuhyun into a hug. It's weak at first; Sungmin has never felt so tired in all his days. His arms tremble and his lower lip quivers so he tightens his hold and buries his face in Kyuhyun's neck, hoping to still himself.
Kyuhyun doesn't protest or say anything for a while, either. He just gives in and hugs Sungmin back, sinking onto Eeteuk's bed where Sungmin has been sleeping for the past two hours.
The silence breaks when Donghae's voice calls out through the dorm for Kyuhyun to 'hurry up, we can't wait any longer.'
Sungmin's fingers clench and dig into Kyuhyun's back for a moment before he lets Kyuhyun pull away. Kyuhyun smoothes a hand over his hyung's head and presses his lips to his forehead. Sungmin lets his eyes close at the contact before they open again, burning.
"Will you miss me while I'm gone?" Kyuhyun asks, but his words aren't laced with his usual teasing attitude.
Sungmin's expression doesn't change. His face remains blank, eyes lifeless and red.
Donghae's voice rings out again, an impatient 'Yah! Kyuhyun!'
Kyuhyun pushes himself back off the bed, picks his backpack up off the ground and grabs a soft, knitted hat off the bedside table to pull over his messy hair. He doesn't take his eyes off his hyung, watching as Sungmin watches him, leaning forward slightly on his hands.
"I'll text you then," Kyuhyun says, realizing he isn't going to get a response. "Promise you'll answer," he says, eyes turning a bit hard as Sungmin continues to stare blankly.
Sungmin looks at his dongsaeng standing before him, backpack on his shoulders, hat on his head, ready to leave for the airport, for China, for Super Junior-M where he will be Kui Xian and not Kyuhyun anymore.
Sungmin has nothing to say, and Kyuhyun leaves when Donghae stomps into the room angrily and drags him out. Sungmin last sees Kyuhyun stumbling over his own feet and looking back at him over his shoulder, his eyes looking disappointed and hard.
Five minutes later when Sungmin is still in the same position, still staring at where he'd last made eye contact with Kyuhyun, he's suddenly filled with intense panic and regret, wondering why he hadn't been able to say anything - wishing he had, wishing he'd talked and talked and hadn't stopped. The pain in his chest blooms until it feels like he's bleeding, and Sungmin can't bring himself to go back down to his room alone.
He falls back asleep on Eeteuk's bed, gripping the blankets where he'd sat with Kyuhyun, and hugged him so tightly.
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Sungmin wakes up again sometime later. The hand stroking his back up and down is pleasant but not the same. He blinks his eyes open to see Eeteuk looking down at him with a pitying smile on his perfect lips.
"It will get easier, Minnie," he promises, and Sungmin just nods, his cheek rubbing against the soft blankets.
Eeteuk stares down at him with concern for several long minutes, continuing the soothing motion of his hand, before suddenly speaking again.
"Yah, I forgot," he says with a jolt, pulling Sungmin's phone out of his back pocket. He had taken it out of the room when Sungmin had first laid down to rest several hours ago, lest it should wake him, and he had thought correctly. Sungmin's phone rang nine times since he'd left him alone. "Kyuhyun has sent you three text messages," he says, and Sungmin turns his face into the blankets.
Eeteuk feels the shaking under his hand as Sungmin starts to cry and sighs heavily, setting the phone down on the bedside table before curling up with his dongsaeng on the bed.
"I never tell lies, Minnie. I promise, it will get easier," he says quietly into Sungmin's ear as the younger boy trembles and cries into the blankets.
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Too scared to look at the texts from Kyuhyun - or even think about them - Sungmin avoids his phone like a plague, and soon the battery dies. His hyungs and dongsaengs come to him one by one and complain that he isn't answering their calls or texts, and he apologizes, saying he hasn't been feeling well. Heechul corners him in the kitchen one day to shout that he's getting sick of Kyuhyun ringing the apartment upstairs asking for Sungmin instead of calling his cell phone or the main line on the 11th floor, because it's tying up the line, and he needs the line because his cell phone doesn't hold a charge for longer than three hours ever since he dropped it in the toilet, and people in the 11th floor dorm should hang the main line back up when they're done so people can get a hold of them.
"So stop being selfish and call him back!" Heechul shrieks, kicks a cabinet, and stalks off dramatically.
Sungmin hasn't been sleeping well, either, often staying up much later than usual out in the living room, afraid to go back to his bedroom. In the early hours of the morning he braves sneaking out and up to the 12th floor where he crawls into Eeteuk's bed. After several nights of this, and seeing his hyung with equally tired eyes, he braves sleeping on the couch back in the 11th floor dorm.
After a week of this, his back aches too much and he tries to return to his bedroom.
When he opens the door and sees Kyuhyun's stark side of the room he inhales deeply and feels the stinging burn in the back of his eyes. Since he would be gone for months, most of his things had gone with him. His wardrobe was virtually empty, his laptop gone, half of his game collection, some books, his favorite blanket, framed photos, and even a stuffed rabbit that Sungmin had given him when he first joined Super Junior two years ago.
'In case you get homesick,' Sungmin had said with an innocent, bright smile. 'I promise it will help.'
Whenever Kyuhyun traveled without Sungmin, he took it with him. When he traveled with Sungmin, he never needed to.
Sungmin jumps slightly when a gentle hand touches his shoulder and turns to see Eeteuk behind him, smiling gently.
"Minnie," he begins softly, wrapping his arms around his dongsaeng from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder. "It looks like Kyuhyun forgot to strip his sheets before he left," he says, trying to be careful with his words. He can feel Sungmin's sharp intake of breath and waits for a response, but Sungmin doesn't know what to say.
"Should I wash them, or...?" Eeteuk asks quietly, squeezing Sungmin in a hug.
Torn between diluting Kyuhyun's heavy scent in the room, and eradicating it entirely so he might be able to sleep in his own bed again, Sungmin hangs his head and mutters a useless 'I don't know.' He wants to crawl into Kyuhyun's bed and sleep forever, or until the magnae returns, but he can't let himself keep crying. He feels emotionally and physically exhausted; if just being in their shared room makes him upset and teary-eyed, it probably wouldn't do him any good to hold onto things like dirty sheets.
ㅎ
Sungmin doesn't feel like himself, doesn't feel like being 'happy,' but he's got a commitment to his hyungs and dongsaengs. Being placed in Super Junior-Happy isn't a choice, but a duty. And he's Minnie, the cutest, most playful member of Super Junior - SJ-H wouldn't be complete without him, or so Eeteuk says. Sungmin tries to stop thinking about other things and focus on the new project, even if it feels like a job for the first time since their debut. But he can't help thinking that it's not the same. Being put into a sub-group that stays in Korea is different than one that moves to China, changes its name, and doesn't remember you while its away. One that learns a new language and makes new friends and becomes an entirely different person who functions just fine and gains more success than anyone could have anticipated, not even management.
Kyuhyun has been gone for a month and Sungmin feels the great chasm between them growing every day. He finds himself thinking from time to time that he had better jump to the other side before it's too late, but he has never been one to take big chances. Doubt and self-consciousness eat away at him until he can't even imagine what he would say to Kyuhyun if he contacted him. And anyway, based on what he hears from everyone else, Super Junior-M is incredibly busy. Kyuhyun has probably forgotten all about his hyung who was too much of a crybaby to even say goodbye before he left.
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Sungmin falls asleep in the studio the very first day and manager hyung scolds him to tears. Eeteuk takes him to the bathroom to clean up and calm down, holding him like the caring umma he's always been. His hyung's sensitivity and generosity are too much for Sungmin to handle, and he collapses, Eeteuk barely managing to hold on as Sungmin sinks to the floor in his arms, crying broken phrases while clutching Eeteuk's tear stained sweater.
'I miss him-'
'Kyuhyun-'
Eeteuk's nose begins to run and he cries, too, holding Sungmin's head in his lap on the carpeted floor. Brushing his dongsaeng's hair and cooing quietly to him is all he knows how to do. When Sungmin finally calms down enough to fall asleep, Eeteuk gingerly takes out his phone and texts Kangin, asking for him to come to the bathroom. When he arrives, Eeteuk doesn't need to explain anything; Kangin scoops the sleeping boy up out of his lap and carries him to the back of the building, where they can leave in privacy, while Eeteuk calls for the van to pick them up.
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Sungmin spends two days sleeping in Eeteuk's bed. Eeteuk begged the time off, promising a full recovery and no delay on the recording of the album, and spends those two days monitoring Sungmin's condition, waking him now and then to feed him mild soups, electrolyte drinks, and washing his face with a cool cloth. When he isn't in the room with Sungmin, he's cleaning the already spotless apartment top to bottom in between the constant, dull vibrating of his phone. The messages only stop coming if Kyuhyun is filming a show and can't be texting.
Eeteuk had given in to the magnae's demands only a week after he'd left for China, keeping him updated on how Sungmin was coping without him, although trying his best to color it in such a way that Kyuhyun wouldn't have to be concerned, and Eeteuk wouldn't be completely betraying Sungmin's trust. But as a loving umma, it's hard to watch such a tender relationship crumbling to pieces right before his eyes. And more so, it seems Sungmin's emotional trauma has become physical illness. Eeteuk would rather not have to tell Kyuhyun anything, but Sungmin's minor breakdown is too frightening and real, and now he hardly does anything other than sleep.
'I want to fucking come home!' Kyuhyun says in a text message.
'Don't curse, Kyuhyun. And you know you can't leave. I understand your commitments.'
'But this is ridiculous! If Sungmin is sick, then I should be there!'
'I'm taking good care of him, don't worry. He'll be better before you know it.'
'But that's my job! When was the last time you ever had to take care of him?!'
Eeteuk scowls, putting down the lemon Pledge, fingers hovering over the keys of his phone as he tries to come up with a reply. Kyuhyun beats him to it.
'Since before I joined, right? Sungmin is mine, he's my responsibility, I take care of him, and I would do it if they hadn't fucking shipped me off to China!'
'What did I say about cursing, Kyuhyun?'
The apartment is silent for a long while after, and Eeteuk wonders if Kyuhyun has turned his phone off, or gone back to filming something. But then his phone vibrates and he frowns in confusion, seeing it's a text from Hankyung's number. When he opens his phone, his eyes widen comically.
'Sorry, I broke my phone, this is Kyu, and I'll curse if I want to. You can't punish me from Korea, umma. How is he? Has he woken up? When was the last time he ate? Will you take a picture of him and send it to me? Please? Eeteuk hyung!
Eeteuk sighs heavily and closes his eyes, slumping over the spotless counter top as he remembers the few times Kyuhyun has really lost his temper in the past. He'd thrown a TV remote at the wall once and they had to get the hole replastered and buy a new remote. He'd slammed his fist into the hallway door and fractured his hand, being forced to wear a cast and wrap for several months. Eeteuk sincerely hopes nothing so severe had happened this time, and prays that the only thing damaged is Kyuhyun's cell phone.
Pushing himself up off the stool at the counter, he trudges in his house slippers to his bedroom, creeping inside quietly so as to not wake Sungmin. His dongsaeng looks pitiful, curled up on his side, face scrunched in sleep as if he's having a particularly unpleasant dream. This is not the image he would have liked to send Kyuhyun, but he fears that his refusal to cooperate will result in Hankyung's phone being smashed to bits, and then he would start fighting with Kyuhyun, and they don't need anymore drama in their family at this point.
Clicking a picture of Sungmin's sleeping face, Eeteuk forces himself back out of the room, denying the urge to lie down and rest with Sungmin. He sends the picture on to Hankyung's phone and goes about making a pot of coffee, even though it's well into the afternoon.
Three hours later, after Eeteuk has fed Sungmin and helped him into the bathtub to clean up before falling back asleep, he finally dozes on the couch when his phone vibrates on his chest. When it doesn't stop after a few seconds, he realizes it's a phone call and not a text message, yawning widely while flipping his phone open.
"Hullo," he mumbles groggily, but immediately sits up, alert upon hearing Kyuhyun's choked cries.
"Hyung," he sobs, and Eeteuk can barely understand him over all the sniffling and gasping. "Hyung, he looks terrible. Please, please talk to manager hyung, I want to come home," he cries, and continues rambling when he hears Eeteuk's heavy sigh. "Please, even if it's just for a few hours. I need to see him, he needs me to take care of him," he sniffles uncharacteristically, and Eeteuk feels his heart falling to pieces as he pictures his poor dongsaeng crying alone somewhere in China.
"Kyu," he begins gently, pushing his tired body up to a proper sitting position. "You know you can't miss your schedule... and Sungmin is doing a bit better," he informs, and rubs at his eyes when Kyuhyun gasps a breath of surprise.
"Really? Is he awake? Can I talk to him, please?" He begs, sounding utterly desperate.
"No, he's not awake now," Eeteuk replies apologetically, and closes his eyes when Kyuhyun's sniffling becomes louder. "I woke him earlier and he ate all of his soup and took a bath, but then he fell back asleep. I think he'll be able to get up by himself tomorrow, so don't worry so much, okay? Kyu? Promise me you'll try to calm down tonight," he demands gently, worry eating away at his stomach.
Eeteuk hears some muffled rustling and smiles. "I can't see you nodding your head, use your words," he teases softly.
"Yes, hyung," comes the hoarse reply.
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Kyuhyun/Sungmin, Eeteuk; PG-13 (for language, may change); 2969 words; chaptered
When Kyuhyun leaves for SJ-M promotions the first time, Sungmin just doesn’t know what to say.
a/n: I was going to share sungmin/girl!kyu or kyuhyun/girl!min first but my plots evolved and drew themselves out, so I thought I would start with this. All that I have written was done 2 months ago; at this point, the ending is sort of abrupt like my previous fic, but we will see how it goes. Sorry for any angst or Sungmin seeming weak, I didn’t mean to play into any stereotypes. PS, this takes place in 2008.
part 01 | part 02 | part 03
ㅎ
Sungmin is mute when Kyuhyun leaves. He watches from the doorway as his roommate packs a bag on his bed. There are already four stacked near the front door with Ryeowook's six and Hankyung's five, creating a road block that Heechul screamed about an hour ago when he came down to steal from their refrigerator. Donghae will come down soon and they'll meet Siwon in the van when it comes to pick them up to take them to the airport. After observing Kyuhyun's back for five minutes - Sungmin can see his spine shifting under the cotton of his thin, white v-neck t-shirt - he turns and heads down the hall with tears building in his eyes. He wants to go to Ryeowook to cry but then he remembers he's leaving, too. He wants to go back to his own room to cry alone then but that's where the problem is currently preparing to abandon him.
Defeated, Sungmin turns around and braves the roadblock of suitcases to leave the dorm and take the stairs up to the 12th floor, where he hopes Eeteuk isn't too busy to hold him while he cries.
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Sometime later, Sungmin slowly returns to consciousness, eyes aching and surely swollen. He murmurs to himself, wondering why he's woken up or when he even fell asleep to begin with, before he realizes someone is calling his name and a warm hand is stroking his back in a soothing manner, up and down. He pries his tired eyes open to see if Eeteuk has come to call him to dinner when he registers Kyuhyun's blurry face hovering over him.
"Sungmin," he says quietly, voice deep and soothing, just like always. "I have to go now; what are you doing up here?"
Sungmin doesn't reply - doesn't trust his voice not to crack, or his eyes not to begin watering again - but instead reaches out and pulls Kyuhyun into a hug. It's weak at first; Sungmin has never felt so tired in all his days. His arms tremble and his lower lip quivers so he tightens his hold and buries his face in Kyuhyun's neck, hoping to still himself.
Kyuhyun doesn't protest or say anything for a while, either. He just gives in and hugs Sungmin back, sinking onto Eeteuk's bed where Sungmin has been sleeping for the past two hours.
The silence breaks when Donghae's voice calls out through the dorm for Kyuhyun to 'hurry up, we can't wait any longer.'
Sungmin's fingers clench and dig into Kyuhyun's back for a moment before he lets Kyuhyun pull away. Kyuhyun smoothes a hand over his hyung's head and presses his lips to his forehead. Sungmin lets his eyes close at the contact before they open again, burning.
"Will you miss me while I'm gone?" Kyuhyun asks, but his words aren't laced with his usual teasing attitude.
Sungmin's expression doesn't change. His face remains blank, eyes lifeless and red.
Donghae's voice rings out again, an impatient 'Yah! Kyuhyun!'
Kyuhyun pushes himself back off the bed, picks his backpack up off the ground and grabs a soft, knitted hat off the bedside table to pull over his messy hair. He doesn't take his eyes off his hyung, watching as Sungmin watches him, leaning forward slightly on his hands.
"I'll text you then," Kyuhyun says, realizing he isn't going to get a response. "Promise you'll answer," he says, eyes turning a bit hard as Sungmin continues to stare blankly.
Sungmin looks at his dongsaeng standing before him, backpack on his shoulders, hat on his head, ready to leave for the airport, for China, for Super Junior-M where he will be Kui Xian and not Kyuhyun anymore.
Sungmin has nothing to say, and Kyuhyun leaves when Donghae stomps into the room angrily and drags him out. Sungmin last sees Kyuhyun stumbling over his own feet and looking back at him over his shoulder, his eyes looking disappointed and hard.
Five minutes later when Sungmin is still in the same position, still staring at where he'd last made eye contact with Kyuhyun, he's suddenly filled with intense panic and regret, wondering why he hadn't been able to say anything - wishing he had, wishing he'd talked and talked and hadn't stopped. The pain in his chest blooms until it feels like he's bleeding, and Sungmin can't bring himself to go back down to his room alone.
He falls back asleep on Eeteuk's bed, gripping the blankets where he'd sat with Kyuhyun, and hugged him so tightly.
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Sungmin wakes up again sometime later. The hand stroking his back up and down is pleasant but not the same. He blinks his eyes open to see Eeteuk looking down at him with a pitying smile on his perfect lips.
"It will get easier, Minnie," he promises, and Sungmin just nods, his cheek rubbing against the soft blankets.
Eeteuk stares down at him with concern for several long minutes, continuing the soothing motion of his hand, before suddenly speaking again.
"Yah, I forgot," he says with a jolt, pulling Sungmin's phone out of his back pocket. He had taken it out of the room when Sungmin had first laid down to rest several hours ago, lest it should wake him, and he had thought correctly. Sungmin's phone rang nine times since he'd left him alone. "Kyuhyun has sent you three text messages," he says, and Sungmin turns his face into the blankets.
Eeteuk feels the shaking under his hand as Sungmin starts to cry and sighs heavily, setting the phone down on the bedside table before curling up with his dongsaeng on the bed.
"I never tell lies, Minnie. I promise, it will get easier," he says quietly into Sungmin's ear as the younger boy trembles and cries into the blankets.
ㅎ
Too scared to look at the texts from Kyuhyun - or even think about them - Sungmin avoids his phone like a plague, and soon the battery dies. His hyungs and dongsaengs come to him one by one and complain that he isn't answering their calls or texts, and he apologizes, saying he hasn't been feeling well. Heechul corners him in the kitchen one day to shout that he's getting sick of Kyuhyun ringing the apartment upstairs asking for Sungmin instead of calling his cell phone or the main line on the 11th floor, because it's tying up the line, and he needs the line because his cell phone doesn't hold a charge for longer than three hours ever since he dropped it in the toilet, and people in the 11th floor dorm should hang the main line back up when they're done so people can get a hold of them.
"So stop being selfish and call him back!" Heechul shrieks, kicks a cabinet, and stalks off dramatically.
Sungmin hasn't been sleeping well, either, often staying up much later than usual out in the living room, afraid to go back to his bedroom. In the early hours of the morning he braves sneaking out and up to the 12th floor where he crawls into Eeteuk's bed. After several nights of this, and seeing his hyung with equally tired eyes, he braves sleeping on the couch back in the 11th floor dorm.
After a week of this, his back aches too much and he tries to return to his bedroom.
When he opens the door and sees Kyuhyun's stark side of the room he inhales deeply and feels the stinging burn in the back of his eyes. Since he would be gone for months, most of his things had gone with him. His wardrobe was virtually empty, his laptop gone, half of his game collection, some books, his favorite blanket, framed photos, and even a stuffed rabbit that Sungmin had given him when he first joined Super Junior two years ago.
'In case you get homesick,' Sungmin had said with an innocent, bright smile. 'I promise it will help.'
Whenever Kyuhyun traveled without Sungmin, he took it with him. When he traveled with Sungmin, he never needed to.
Sungmin jumps slightly when a gentle hand touches his shoulder and turns to see Eeteuk behind him, smiling gently.
"Minnie," he begins softly, wrapping his arms around his dongsaeng from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder. "It looks like Kyuhyun forgot to strip his sheets before he left," he says, trying to be careful with his words. He can feel Sungmin's sharp intake of breath and waits for a response, but Sungmin doesn't know what to say.
"Should I wash them, or...?" Eeteuk asks quietly, squeezing Sungmin in a hug.
Torn between diluting Kyuhyun's heavy scent in the room, and eradicating it entirely so he might be able to sleep in his own bed again, Sungmin hangs his head and mutters a useless 'I don't know.' He wants to crawl into Kyuhyun's bed and sleep forever, or until the magnae returns, but he can't let himself keep crying. He feels emotionally and physically exhausted; if just being in their shared room makes him upset and teary-eyed, it probably wouldn't do him any good to hold onto things like dirty sheets.
ㅎ
Sungmin doesn't feel like himself, doesn't feel like being 'happy,' but he's got a commitment to his hyungs and dongsaengs. Being placed in Super Junior-Happy isn't a choice, but a duty. And he's Minnie, the cutest, most playful member of Super Junior - SJ-H wouldn't be complete without him, or so Eeteuk says. Sungmin tries to stop thinking about other things and focus on the new project, even if it feels like a job for the first time since their debut. But he can't help thinking that it's not the same. Being put into a sub-group that stays in Korea is different than one that moves to China, changes its name, and doesn't remember you while its away. One that learns a new language and makes new friends and becomes an entirely different person who functions just fine and gains more success than anyone could have anticipated, not even management.
Kyuhyun has been gone for a month and Sungmin feels the great chasm between them growing every day. He finds himself thinking from time to time that he had better jump to the other side before it's too late, but he has never been one to take big chances. Doubt and self-consciousness eat away at him until he can't even imagine what he would say to Kyuhyun if he contacted him. And anyway, based on what he hears from everyone else, Super Junior-M is incredibly busy. Kyuhyun has probably forgotten all about his hyung who was too much of a crybaby to even say goodbye before he left.
ㅎ
Sungmin falls asleep in the studio the very first day and manager hyung scolds him to tears. Eeteuk takes him to the bathroom to clean up and calm down, holding him like the caring umma he's always been. His hyung's sensitivity and generosity are too much for Sungmin to handle, and he collapses, Eeteuk barely managing to hold on as Sungmin sinks to the floor in his arms, crying broken phrases while clutching Eeteuk's tear stained sweater.
'I miss him-'
'Kyuhyun-'
Eeteuk's nose begins to run and he cries, too, holding Sungmin's head in his lap on the carpeted floor. Brushing his dongsaeng's hair and cooing quietly to him is all he knows how to do. When Sungmin finally calms down enough to fall asleep, Eeteuk gingerly takes out his phone and texts Kangin, asking for him to come to the bathroom. When he arrives, Eeteuk doesn't need to explain anything; Kangin scoops the sleeping boy up out of his lap and carries him to the back of the building, where they can leave in privacy, while Eeteuk calls for the van to pick them up.
ㅎ
Sungmin spends two days sleeping in Eeteuk's bed. Eeteuk begged the time off, promising a full recovery and no delay on the recording of the album, and spends those two days monitoring Sungmin's condition, waking him now and then to feed him mild soups, electrolyte drinks, and washing his face with a cool cloth. When he isn't in the room with Sungmin, he's cleaning the already spotless apartment top to bottom in between the constant, dull vibrating of his phone. The messages only stop coming if Kyuhyun is filming a show and can't be texting.
Eeteuk had given in to the magnae's demands only a week after he'd left for China, keeping him updated on how Sungmin was coping without him, although trying his best to color it in such a way that Kyuhyun wouldn't have to be concerned, and Eeteuk wouldn't be completely betraying Sungmin's trust. But as a loving umma, it's hard to watch such a tender relationship crumbling to pieces right before his eyes. And more so, it seems Sungmin's emotional trauma has become physical illness. Eeteuk would rather not have to tell Kyuhyun anything, but Sungmin's minor breakdown is too frightening and real, and now he hardly does anything other than sleep.
'I want to fucking come home!' Kyuhyun says in a text message.
'Don't curse, Kyuhyun. And you know you can't leave. I understand your commitments.'
'But this is ridiculous! If Sungmin is sick, then I should be there!'
'I'm taking good care of him, don't worry. He'll be better before you know it.'
'But that's my job! When was the last time you ever had to take care of him?!'
Eeteuk scowls, putting down the lemon Pledge, fingers hovering over the keys of his phone as he tries to come up with a reply. Kyuhyun beats him to it.
'Since before I joined, right? Sungmin is mine, he's my responsibility, I take care of him, and I would do it if they hadn't fucking shipped me off to China!'
'What did I say about cursing, Kyuhyun?'
The apartment is silent for a long while after, and Eeteuk wonders if Kyuhyun has turned his phone off, or gone back to filming something. But then his phone vibrates and he frowns in confusion, seeing it's a text from Hankyung's number. When he opens his phone, his eyes widen comically.
'Sorry, I broke my phone, this is Kyu, and I'll curse if I want to. You can't punish me from Korea, umma. How is he? Has he woken up? When was the last time he ate? Will you take a picture of him and send it to me? Please? Eeteuk hyung!
Eeteuk sighs heavily and closes his eyes, slumping over the spotless counter top as he remembers the few times Kyuhyun has really lost his temper in the past. He'd thrown a TV remote at the wall once and they had to get the hole replastered and buy a new remote. He'd slammed his fist into the hallway door and fractured his hand, being forced to wear a cast and wrap for several months. Eeteuk sincerely hopes nothing so severe had happened this time, and prays that the only thing damaged is Kyuhyun's cell phone.
Pushing himself up off the stool at the counter, he trudges in his house slippers to his bedroom, creeping inside quietly so as to not wake Sungmin. His dongsaeng looks pitiful, curled up on his side, face scrunched in sleep as if he's having a particularly unpleasant dream. This is not the image he would have liked to send Kyuhyun, but he fears that his refusal to cooperate will result in Hankyung's phone being smashed to bits, and then he would start fighting with Kyuhyun, and they don't need anymore drama in their family at this point.
Clicking a picture of Sungmin's sleeping face, Eeteuk forces himself back out of the room, denying the urge to lie down and rest with Sungmin. He sends the picture on to Hankyung's phone and goes about making a pot of coffee, even though it's well into the afternoon.
Three hours later, after Eeteuk has fed Sungmin and helped him into the bathtub to clean up before falling back asleep, he finally dozes on the couch when his phone vibrates on his chest. When it doesn't stop after a few seconds, he realizes it's a phone call and not a text message, yawning widely while flipping his phone open.
"Hullo," he mumbles groggily, but immediately sits up, alert upon hearing Kyuhyun's choked cries.
"Hyung," he sobs, and Eeteuk can barely understand him over all the sniffling and gasping. "Hyung, he looks terrible. Please, please talk to manager hyung, I want to come home," he cries, and continues rambling when he hears Eeteuk's heavy sigh. "Please, even if it's just for a few hours. I need to see him, he needs me to take care of him," he sniffles uncharacteristically, and Eeteuk feels his heart falling to pieces as he pictures his poor dongsaeng crying alone somewhere in China.
"Kyu," he begins gently, pushing his tired body up to a proper sitting position. "You know you can't miss your schedule... and Sungmin is doing a bit better," he informs, and rubs at his eyes when Kyuhyun gasps a breath of surprise.
"Really? Is he awake? Can I talk to him, please?" He begs, sounding utterly desperate.
"No, he's not awake now," Eeteuk replies apologetically, and closes his eyes when Kyuhyun's sniffling becomes louder. "I woke him earlier and he ate all of his soup and took a bath, but then he fell back asleep. I think he'll be able to get up by himself tomorrow, so don't worry so much, okay? Kyu? Promise me you'll try to calm down tonight," he demands gently, worry eating away at his stomach.
Eeteuk hears some muffled rustling and smiles. "I can't see you nodding your head, use your words," he teases softly.
"Yes, hyung," comes the hoarse reply.
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