Those Three Little Words (Drabbles)
Title: Those Three Little Words (Drabbles)
Pairings: Various (Yesung/Ryeowook, Kibum/Donghae, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, Hankyung/Heechul, Kangin/Leeteuk)
Word count: 1,604 in total
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A set of drabbles based on a prompt from milkpoet , which katsudono gave to me in kpopficwangst 4.0.
A/N: Dedicated to katsudono , thank you for giving me such a beautiful prompt! I’m sorry I never managed to expand the YeWook, so instead I’m giving you a drabble set.
In an effort to get people to look
into each other’s eyes more,
and also to appease the mutes,
the government has decided
to allot each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.
When the phone rings, I put it to my ear
without saying hello. In the restaurant
I point at chicken noodle soup.
I am adjusting well to the new way.
Late at night, I call my long distance lover,
proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.
I saved the rest for you.
When she doesn’t respond,
I know she’s used up all her words,
so I slowly whisper I love you
thirty-two and a third times.
After that, we just sit on the line
and listen to each other breathe.
- The Quiet World, Jeffrey McDaniel -
___
Jongwoon's a naturally talkative and effervescent person. The new rule implemented by the South Korean government is harder for him than most, but he tries to adjust as well as he can. He chooses not to answer his telephone when it rings, sending texts whenever possible. He orders his food by pointing to the menu, and IMs friends instead of going out with them. He creates a little bubble of silence that he lives in, a world which is even more silent than that outside, because now he has only 167 words to use, and every single word is precious.
The only times he uses his allotted words are when he picks up the phone at night to call Ryeowook in China.
The first thing he'll say to him is the number of words he's used that day - 59, 32, 73, sometimes 0 - so that Ryeowook will know how hard he tried, how much he's saved up for him. Ryeowook never responds though, never says anything more beyond a tiny sigh, and Jongwoon knows this means he's used up all his words for the day.
But that's okay, because Jongwoon has more than enough words saved up for both of them, and so he sits there and tells Ryeowook that he loves him over and over again, counting down with each little breath that Ryeowook exhales after he's said it, until the very last three words are left. That's when Jongwoon stops talking, because he doesn't want this to end.
So they sit, sometimes for hours, listening to each other's soft breathing on the line, until Ryeowook's breathing gets slower and deeper and Jongwoon knows he's either fallen asleep, or is drifting off. That's when he whispers the final, "I love you", for the day to Ryeowook, hears his small answering sigh, and then the both of them hang up.
Jongwoon never tells Ryeowook that he wishes that for once, he can hear Ryeowook tell him "I love you" instead of him saying it to Ryeowook every night. He doesn't want to waste his words on that anyway. He'd rather use them to tell Ryeowook that he loves him.
But the day that Ryeowook returns to Korea, he bursts into their bedroom and is upon Jongwoon almost before Jongwoon has time to utter anything more than a startled gasp. He grips on to the front of Jongwoon’s shirt with hands that are still fat and clumsy from gloves that he doesn’t bother removing, and cries salty tears into Jongwoon’s chest, words muffled by his sobs and sobs muffled by his scarf, but Jongwoon hears what he says, a soft breathless litany of I love you that he repeats over and over until he runs out of words and does nothing more but cry.
That’s when Jongwoon realizes - Ryeowook’s been saving all his words for this day, when he’s back in his arms and he can hold Jongwoon and touch him and kiss him, and it makes up for all those lonely days he told Ryeowook he loves him and got nothing more than a little sigh in return, because having Ryeowook with him is infinitely better than any amount of words in the world.
___
Donghae tends to use up all 167 allotted words by the end of the first hour, as Kibum knows he's wont to do. It never bothers him whenever he picks up the phone at the end of the day and calls him, and Donghae's making suppressed sounds of anger and frustration down the line. Kibum pictures Donghae's face, red with the effort of willing himself to not just burst into a fountain of words, each one tripping over the next as he scrambles to tell Kibum how much he's missed him and how much he needs to say to him and how much he hates being unable to talk, but Kibum manages to calm him down each time with just a few whispered words.
It's easy for Kibum to save all his words, because he usually never talks anyway, but somehow, he never finds it a problem using up all his words on Donghae - first to soothe him, then to comfort him, and lastly, to tell him that he loves him. Donghae can never answer, but it doesn’t matter to Kibum; Donghae’s indignation in not being able to reply is enough to tell him how much Donghae cares, anyway.
___
Sungmin and Kyuhyun never have any trouble keeping to the 167-word limit. Kyuhyun’s never happier than when he’s left alone all day in front of his laptop beating up robots, and Sungmin is perfectly at ease left with nothing more than his guitar.
Day after day their room is filled with the noises of loud explosions and grisly slashing sounds in Kyuhyun’s game, against the sweet slow strains of Sungmin plucking at the guitar. Occasionally Kyuhyun will swear out loud (he tries to control himself more nowadays though, because a swear word is a wasted word), and Sungmin will say admonishingly, “Don’t, Kyuhyun.” And whenever Kyuhyun’s tired of his games, he walks over to Sungmin and wraps his arms around him, pressing them together cheek to cheek, and to Kyuhyun, a few gentle kisses, a nuzzle of a nose against a cheek, and a single smile from Sungmin tells him so much more than mere words can.
The opposing sounds could be grating to the ears, but to Sungmin and Kyuhyun, it’s all their sounds, and they’re happier together in their home, even without talking at all, than in the silent world outside.
___
Hankyung is not one to waste words, but he knows Heechul is. What really annoys Hankyung, though, is the way Heechul uses his words. It’s always something like, “Yah, cook some noodles for me”, or “I’m tired; can you get me a drink from the fridge?” or “Does this look good on me, or does that look better?” It’s gotten so that Hankyung has begun saying, out loud, the number of words Heechul uses after every sentence he says, to remind him how many he’s wasted.
It comes to a head one day when Hankyung’s been shouting numbers at Heechul all afternoon, getting progressively louder each time, and finally Heechul snaps, leaping at Hankyung and wrestling him to the floor, screaming at him, and even through the fog of surprise in his mind Hankyung still continues to count down, the reaction automatic by now.
Just as the count goes down to 2 words left, he gets shaken out of his daze by the worry that Heechul will overshoot his limit, and before he can really think he pulls Heechul down to kiss him, bruising and hard and rough, shutting him up the only way he knows how.
Later, he rolls over onto his side to look at Heechul, unmindful of the prickly carpet under his skin, and says softly, “Why don’t you ever say that you love me instead, Heechul?”
Heechul opens his mouth to speak, but Hankyung presses long fingers to his lips to shut him up, ever mindful of his word limit. And Heechul looks back at him with angry eyes and a frown on his face, and Hankyung’s heart plummets - but then Heechul purses his lips ever so slightly, enough to press a quick kiss to the pads of his fingers before he turns away as if it never happened, and with that gesture alone Hankyung realizes that yes, Heechul does love him, even if he never says it.
___
Youngwoon and Jungsu are both stumped by the new rule. Both of them can’t live without talking and laughing, can’t get through an hour without using up all their words. And then the rest of the day is usually spent stewing in frustration as they stare at each other, mouths twitching with the need to speak like they used to, rapidly and loudly and shouting over each other, a need that all the scribbling on loose sheets of paper passed back and forth between them can’t fill.
It happens one day when Jungsu passes a slip of paper to him for what seems like the umpteenth time that day, this time scribbled with a Can you run to the grocery store and get some milk, Youngwoon?, that Youngwoon balls it up in his fist and throws it roughly aside, unable to stand it anymore, and barks, “I’m sick of this, I don’t give a fuck anymore, Jungsu.”
Jungsu’s eyes widen and he hurries over to clap a hand over Youngwoon’s mouth, shaking his head frantically and mouthing No at him, but Youngwoon tears his hand away.
“I don’t care what happens to me,” he says loudly. “I want to have the freedom to talk to you like I used to. I want to be able to hear your voice. I want to be able to say that I love you, without relying on stupid pieces of paper. I hate this, Jungsu.”
Jungsu’s still shaking his head when the knock on the door comes, and his eyes are wild and scared when Youngwoon strides to the door. But before he opens it, he turns and says, quietly, “I don’t care what happens, Jungsu, because I love you, and that is worth saying.”
Eventually Youngwoon is let off with nothing more than a fine and a warning, but it makes him laugh, and when he hands a note to Jungsu saying That was absolutely worth it, Jungsu laughs as well and hugs him, his heart full to overspilling with the three simple words Youngwoon broke the law just to say.
Pairings: Various (Yesung/Ryeowook, Kibum/Donghae, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, Hankyung/Heechul, Kangin/Leeteuk)
Word count: 1,604 in total
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A set of drabbles based on a prompt from milkpoet , which katsudono gave to me in kpopficwangst 4.0.
A/N: Dedicated to katsudono , thank you for giving me such a beautiful prompt! I’m sorry I never managed to expand the YeWook, so instead I’m giving you a drabble set.
In an effort to get people to look
into each other’s eyes more,
and also to appease the mutes,
the government has decided
to allot each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.
When the phone rings, I put it to my ear
without saying hello. In the restaurant
I point at chicken noodle soup.
I am adjusting well to the new way.
Late at night, I call my long distance lover,
proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.
I saved the rest for you.
When she doesn’t respond,
I know she’s used up all her words,
so I slowly whisper I love you
thirty-two and a third times.
After that, we just sit on the line
and listen to each other breathe.
- The Quiet World, Jeffrey McDaniel -
___
Jongwoon's a naturally talkative and effervescent person. The new rule implemented by the South Korean government is harder for him than most, but he tries to adjust as well as he can. He chooses not to answer his telephone when it rings, sending texts whenever possible. He orders his food by pointing to the menu, and IMs friends instead of going out with them. He creates a little bubble of silence that he lives in, a world which is even more silent than that outside, because now he has only 167 words to use, and every single word is precious.
The only times he uses his allotted words are when he picks up the phone at night to call Ryeowook in China.
The first thing he'll say to him is the number of words he's used that day - 59, 32, 73, sometimes 0 - so that Ryeowook will know how hard he tried, how much he's saved up for him. Ryeowook never responds though, never says anything more beyond a tiny sigh, and Jongwoon knows this means he's used up all his words for the day.
But that's okay, because Jongwoon has more than enough words saved up for both of them, and so he sits there and tells Ryeowook that he loves him over and over again, counting down with each little breath that Ryeowook exhales after he's said it, until the very last three words are left. That's when Jongwoon stops talking, because he doesn't want this to end.
So they sit, sometimes for hours, listening to each other's soft breathing on the line, until Ryeowook's breathing gets slower and deeper and Jongwoon knows he's either fallen asleep, or is drifting off. That's when he whispers the final, "I love you", for the day to Ryeowook, hears his small answering sigh, and then the both of them hang up.
Jongwoon never tells Ryeowook that he wishes that for once, he can hear Ryeowook tell him "I love you" instead of him saying it to Ryeowook every night. He doesn't want to waste his words on that anyway. He'd rather use them to tell Ryeowook that he loves him.
But the day that Ryeowook returns to Korea, he bursts into their bedroom and is upon Jongwoon almost before Jongwoon has time to utter anything more than a startled gasp. He grips on to the front of Jongwoon’s shirt with hands that are still fat and clumsy from gloves that he doesn’t bother removing, and cries salty tears into Jongwoon’s chest, words muffled by his sobs and sobs muffled by his scarf, but Jongwoon hears what he says, a soft breathless litany of I love you that he repeats over and over until he runs out of words and does nothing more but cry.
That’s when Jongwoon realizes - Ryeowook’s been saving all his words for this day, when he’s back in his arms and he can hold Jongwoon and touch him and kiss him, and it makes up for all those lonely days he told Ryeowook he loves him and got nothing more than a little sigh in return, because having Ryeowook with him is infinitely better than any amount of words in the world.
___
Donghae tends to use up all 167 allotted words by the end of the first hour, as Kibum knows he's wont to do. It never bothers him whenever he picks up the phone at the end of the day and calls him, and Donghae's making suppressed sounds of anger and frustration down the line. Kibum pictures Donghae's face, red with the effort of willing himself to not just burst into a fountain of words, each one tripping over the next as he scrambles to tell Kibum how much he's missed him and how much he needs to say to him and how much he hates being unable to talk, but Kibum manages to calm him down each time with just a few whispered words.
It's easy for Kibum to save all his words, because he usually never talks anyway, but somehow, he never finds it a problem using up all his words on Donghae - first to soothe him, then to comfort him, and lastly, to tell him that he loves him. Donghae can never answer, but it doesn’t matter to Kibum; Donghae’s indignation in not being able to reply is enough to tell him how much Donghae cares, anyway.
___
Sungmin and Kyuhyun never have any trouble keeping to the 167-word limit. Kyuhyun’s never happier than when he’s left alone all day in front of his laptop beating up robots, and Sungmin is perfectly at ease left with nothing more than his guitar.
Day after day their room is filled with the noises of loud explosions and grisly slashing sounds in Kyuhyun’s game, against the sweet slow strains of Sungmin plucking at the guitar. Occasionally Kyuhyun will swear out loud (he tries to control himself more nowadays though, because a swear word is a wasted word), and Sungmin will say admonishingly, “Don’t, Kyuhyun.” And whenever Kyuhyun’s tired of his games, he walks over to Sungmin and wraps his arms around him, pressing them together cheek to cheek, and to Kyuhyun, a few gentle kisses, a nuzzle of a nose against a cheek, and a single smile from Sungmin tells him so much more than mere words can.
The opposing sounds could be grating to the ears, but to Sungmin and Kyuhyun, it’s all their sounds, and they’re happier together in their home, even without talking at all, than in the silent world outside.
___
Hankyung is not one to waste words, but he knows Heechul is. What really annoys Hankyung, though, is the way Heechul uses his words. It’s always something like, “Yah, cook some noodles for me”, or “I’m tired; can you get me a drink from the fridge?” or “Does this look good on me, or does that look better?” It’s gotten so that Hankyung has begun saying, out loud, the number of words Heechul uses after every sentence he says, to remind him how many he’s wasted.
It comes to a head one day when Hankyung’s been shouting numbers at Heechul all afternoon, getting progressively louder each time, and finally Heechul snaps, leaping at Hankyung and wrestling him to the floor, screaming at him, and even through the fog of surprise in his mind Hankyung still continues to count down, the reaction automatic by now.
Just as the count goes down to 2 words left, he gets shaken out of his daze by the worry that Heechul will overshoot his limit, and before he can really think he pulls Heechul down to kiss him, bruising and hard and rough, shutting him up the only way he knows how.
Later, he rolls over onto his side to look at Heechul, unmindful of the prickly carpet under his skin, and says softly, “Why don’t you ever say that you love me instead, Heechul?”
Heechul opens his mouth to speak, but Hankyung presses long fingers to his lips to shut him up, ever mindful of his word limit. And Heechul looks back at him with angry eyes and a frown on his face, and Hankyung’s heart plummets - but then Heechul purses his lips ever so slightly, enough to press a quick kiss to the pads of his fingers before he turns away as if it never happened, and with that gesture alone Hankyung realizes that yes, Heechul does love him, even if he never says it.
___
Youngwoon and Jungsu are both stumped by the new rule. Both of them can’t live without talking and laughing, can’t get through an hour without using up all their words. And then the rest of the day is usually spent stewing in frustration as they stare at each other, mouths twitching with the need to speak like they used to, rapidly and loudly and shouting over each other, a need that all the scribbling on loose sheets of paper passed back and forth between them can’t fill.
It happens one day when Jungsu passes a slip of paper to him for what seems like the umpteenth time that day, this time scribbled with a Can you run to the grocery store and get some milk, Youngwoon?, that Youngwoon balls it up in his fist and throws it roughly aside, unable to stand it anymore, and barks, “I’m sick of this, I don’t give a fuck anymore, Jungsu.”
Jungsu’s eyes widen and he hurries over to clap a hand over Youngwoon’s mouth, shaking his head frantically and mouthing No at him, but Youngwoon tears his hand away.
“I don’t care what happens to me,” he says loudly. “I want to have the freedom to talk to you like I used to. I want to be able to hear your voice. I want to be able to say that I love you, without relying on stupid pieces of paper. I hate this, Jungsu.”
Jungsu’s still shaking his head when the knock on the door comes, and his eyes are wild and scared when Youngwoon strides to the door. But before he opens it, he turns and says, quietly, “I don’t care what happens, Jungsu, because I love you, and that is worth saying.”
Eventually Youngwoon is let off with nothing more than a fine and a warning, but it makes him laugh, and when he hands a note to Jungsu saying That was absolutely worth it, Jungsu laughs as well and hugs him, his heart full to overspilling with the three simple words Youngwoon broke the law just to say.