[fic] Butterfly Effect
Butterfly Effect
pg/r - blohyuk [tiny eunhyuk/henry]
warnings: i'll tell you as they come.
summary: “The Butterfly Effect- noun: a chaotic effect created by something seemingly insignificant, the phenomenon whereby a small change in one part of a complex system can have a large effect somewhere else.”
ONE.
drug use.
“Try it, just once.”
You want to resist, because you know that the little blue pill he’s holding out is bad, you know that it’s something horrid and evil and you’re supposed to stay away, but the look in his eyes is frightening and delicious, all at once.
The bed sheets are cool underneath you as you lean towards him, and he smells widely at you through his Harry Potter glasses. His fingers are soft as they brush your mouth, they taste like soap and potato chips as he slides the pill onto your tongue.
At first, you wonder if maybe you’re immune, and you can only stare at him, wide-eyed. You start to talk, but he cuts you off as he pushes you down to the bed.
You gasp, because his hand has plunged into your jeans and because the sheets underneath you, which you remember being rough cotton, suddenly feel like silk and whatever clouds are made of.
You’re caught in a daze of colors and touches and you clench your hands into the sheets and pull them around your skin while you push closer to him.
Its sex like you’ve never had it, and it’s almost painful, the deluge of scents and sights and touches that skim across your body and leave you breathless.
He grins at you, shakes his hair out of his eyes, and even though you can’t find your breath, that little blue pill hasn’t worn off yet, and you reach for him again.
-----
You hold out a little blue pill, and you grin slightly.
“Try it, just once.”
You see the younger boy’s eyes widen, narrow. He doesn’t need to know Korean to know what you’re holding out to him. He opens his mouth to say something, but you take the chance to slip the pill into his mouth.
He swallows without thought and he’s shocked, angry, betrayed… Until that magic pill starts in and he’s rubbing his hands across his denim-covered thighs and licks his lips and blinks at you.
TWO.
smut.
“I… I heard the new… album and-“Eunhyuk pants and throws his head back. He raises his hands and tangles them into his own hair because he needs to hold onto something, anything, and Tablo won’t let him touch him.
Tablo grunts and his fingers dig even more into the skin at Eunhyuk’s waist. He snaps his hips up and Eunhyuk lets out a groan from deep in his throat, raises himself up and drops down as fast as he can, which is never fast enough.
He forgets what he’s saying, what he’s thinking, forgets himself and breathes in the scent of Tablo’s cologne.
-----
“Did you like it?”
Eunhyuk blinks his eyes and stretches his back, lays his head down on the white pillow. “What?”
Tablo sits at his desk, never bothering to pull on his clothes, and he scribbles at a paper. “The new album, did you like it?”
Eunhyuk smiles sleepily, yawns. “Loved it…”
-----
“You have to stop this.”
Tablo shakes his head. “No.”
“Yes. I’ve been letting you get away with it because it wasn’t overly affecting your work. I’ve already let you have one album… So what’s this?” A sheaf of papers is thrown to the ground: the new lyrics, the new songs. “You’re not here to write love shit, Tablo. I’m going to pretend that none of this happened. So get rid of the boy and get rid of these lyrics.”
-----
Eunhyuk looks down at his shoes. “Was it… Something I did, hyung? Did I-“
“No.” Tablo keeps his back towards Eunhyuk, busy writing new lyrics. “It’s wasn’t you, so please leave.”
Eunhyuk stares at him for minutes, then he turns and leaves without another word. Tablo waits until he can hear his car driving away before he screams and overturns his desk and throws his CD cases.
THREE.
much fluff.
I laugh because I can. Eunhyuk turns to me, away from the night sky we’re staring at, lying on top of the roof of my house.
“What’s so funny?” His smile is all gums and white teeth, and I laugh harder.
“It’s just… It’s nice. This is nice.” I push myself up onto my elbow and smile down at him. ‘You’re nice.”
He rolls his eyes just slightly, but he smiles back. “Just nice?”
My laughter fades away, but I can still hear it in the air, like a bird’s song. I lean down and press my lips to his, chaste and unhurried, and he tangles his hand with mine.
I pull away and the stars seem brighter. Eunhyuk reaches up and pulls my shoulder, and he pulls me down to him. My ear is pressed against his heart and the beats are a new song under my fingertips and at the tip of my tongue.
“Did you know that Kibum finally asked out that girl he’s been crushing on?”
“Really?”
“Umhmm. Says he watched us for a while, and decided that if I could get the balls to confess, then he definitely could.” Eunhyuk doesn’t laugh, but it’s clear in his voice and the way his hand squeezes my shoulder.
“Wow, I’m finally a role model… What’d the girl say?” I trace the designs of his shirt against his chest and he swats my hand away.”
“Tickles… It was a yes, but he won’t tell anyone what exactly she said. I’m so curious too, because according to him, it was the best acceptance speech he’s ever heard.”
I raise my head slightly to peer down at him. The stars are reflected in his eyes. “Better than mine?”
Eunhyuk laughs this time. “Definitely not. I don’t even have to hear it to know that.” His face gets soft and bright and full of wonder. “Nothing could be better than yours.”
Satisfied, I lay back down, and it’s easy to start dozing off as Eunhyuk sings softly under his breathe. “그대는 내 머리위에 우산…”
FOUR.
character death.
Eunhyuk lets out a sound that makes everyone in the room flinch and cringe. He starts to crumble to the ground and Donghae rushes to catch him, and they both sink to the floor. Eunhyuk makes the sound again, his eyes wide and hazy and wild, and Donghae rocks him back and forth on the white linoleum floor of the hospital waiting room.
Tukutz faces a wall, fingers gripping at a support that’s not there, and his shoulders shake. Mithra sits on a chair with his hands over his face and Heechul is narrow-eyed beside him, patting his back.
Eunhyuk stretches out a hand towards the double doors that swing slightly back and forth as the doctor walks back through, mask in his hands, head own.
“Tablo.”
-----
It rains during the memorial service.
Eunhyuk doesn’t see the flashing of the cameras, but he hears the people crying around him. He kneels in front of Tablo’s picture and stares and even though more and more people come in to bow their last respects, no one dares to move him away…. They bow to the side of him.
Mithra carries Tablo’s picture out, Tukutz beside him. Tablo’s parents hold themselves up and follow, and a couple more relatives. Then it’s Eunhyuk, with Leeteuk beside him. Leeteuk holds his arm and pulls him along. Eunhyuk doesn’t blink at the rain.
-----
The funeral is small. Tablo’s family, Tukutz and Mithra, Eunhyuk and Heechul.
The tombstone has “Daniel Armand Lee” carved into it, and “Tablo” underneath. Eunhyuk shakes his head because it’s supposed to be the other way around.
People say last words, and Heechul nudges him slightly. Eunhyuk doesn’t turn from the sight of Tablo’s coffin as everyone looks at him, watches quietly and waits.
Eunhyuk’s fingers tighten on the flower he holds, and the sound as the stem breaks is like a gunshot; Eunhyuk’s final word.
-----
Eunhyuk prays that night, the first time in months.
“Bring him back, bring him back, bring him back.”
It’s Eunhyuk’s requiem for Tablo, and he falls asleep with the words on his lips.
-----
“Eunhyuk?” Something nudges his shoulder. “Eunhyuk, wake up.”
Eunhyuk blinks, opens his eyes. Hankyung smiles down at him, and he’s holding out the dorm phone.
Eunhyuk reaches for it without a second though. Hankyung turns to walk out. “Don’t take too long, we have to go soon.”
“Hello?” Eunhyuk’s throat is dry, hoarse.
“You left your phone at my place, again. You’re such a loser, you know that, Eunhyukkie? But you’re going to come get it, right? Like, maybe later on tonight when you don’t have anywhere else to be and you can stay and thank me properly for taking such good care of you?”
Eunhyuk can’t breathe.
“Eunhyukkie? Eunhyuk? Is something wrong?” Tablo sounds worried. ‘Come on, it’s not funny. Hyukjae?”
“I… I love you so much.” Eunhyuk closes his eyes to hold back tears. He clutches at the phone in his hands, and he think he hears the plastic creak.
“I love you too,” Tablo answers automatically. “Is something up?”
“No no, nothing’s wrong… Everything’s perfect.” Eunhyuk smiles.
-----
“It’s raining again, man.” Donghae looks regretfully out the window, fingers tapping against the glass. Eunhyuk freezes on his way to the kitchen. His heart stops.
No…
“It’s supposed to rain all week,” Kangin grumbles from the couch. “I’m supposed to take my little cousin out today too… Shit.”
The cup in Eunhyuk’s hand falls to the floor and it breaks into pieces, flying everywhere.
“Eunhyuk? What the hell? Are you okay? Eunhyuk!”
“What day is today? What day is today?” Eunhyuk can’t breathe.
“Wednesday. September…”
Everything is a roar in Eunhyuk’s ears.
Not again, not again, not again, please.
He lunges for the door.
“Eunhyuk! Eunhyuk!”
-----
“Hyung, open the door! Hyung!” Eunhyuk pounds on Tablo’s door with both fists and he's screaming. "Hyung!"
"Shit, I'm coming, I'm coming!" The door flings open and Tablo is clutching a towel to his waist, trying to slide wet into his robe. He frowns. "Eunhyuk? What's the matter?'
Eunhyuk rushes into Tablo's arms, and he holds on tight. The world seems to spin around him. "Don't go anywhere today, hyung, stay home with me today, hyung, please. Just today, just this once."
Tablo closes the door with his foot and holds Eunhyuk. "Sure thing. I needed to go to the bank, but it can wait until tomorrow."
Eunhyuk sighs, his heart slows down. The sounds of cars honking and crashing and metal screaming die from his ears. "Okay, but don't drive, okay? Please don't drive... Walk... It's not that far to your bank... Promise me you'll walk..."
"Okay, fine, I promise." Tablo's voice is slightly exasperated, but he never lets Eunhyuk go.
-----
Eunhyuk wakes up the next day and its Thursday and Tablo is still alive, breathing deeply next to him, still asleep. Eunhyuk swallows back his tears.
He's done it. He's stopped everything.
He goes back to sleep with his hand tangled with Tablo's.
-----
When he wakes up again, he's in bed alone.
"Tablo?!" Eunhyuk yells as he jumps from the bed, heart beating wildly. He gazes frantically around the room until his eyes land on a piece of blank sheet music on Tablo's pillow. He grabs at it, reads, sighs in relief and sinks back into the bed.
"went to the bank.
walking, like i promised~
make something yummy for breakfast? i'll be back soon.
LOVE YOU- tablo."
Eunhyuk can breathe again, because it's alright. He's stopped everything.
He dresses quickly, a pair of Tablo's boxers, one of Tablo's bigger shirts, and heads into the kitchen. He's not a good cook, but Tablo seems to love everything he makes. Maybe it's just a hidden chivalrous side to Tablo, to swallow anything Eunhyuk makes. He tries harder today than he's ever had. He works hard and cooks and cooks and when he's finally done, he's so proud. He lays everything out on the table, smiling. He glances up at the clock and his heart stops.
It's been two hours already, and Tablo is still not home.
Eunhyuk panics. He starts to run out the door, but what if Tablo is fine? Tablo was fine before... He couldn't live like this, always worrying.
Nothing was going to happen, not now.
It takes him ten minutes to breathe right again. Eunhyuk fumbles at the table for a few minutes more, then heads to the living room. His leg shakes, his fingers tap against his knee.
He turns on the TV, and it's too loud. Eunhyuk flinches, turns the sound down. He flips through channels and nothing is on but the news. He looks at the clock again and tosses the remote down, the news playing quietly. It's about the Olympics, again, Park Taehwan and his plans now that he's won the gold- and the segment is interrupted by breaking news.
"There has been a shooting today, at Daehwan Bank in Seoul. A group of robbers held the patrons hostage early this morning and though the police tried everything they could, the robbers shot four people before being shot themselves. We haven't received the names of the people shot, but we do know that two of them are dead, and the other two-"
Tablo's bank.
Eunhyuk gasps for air. Tablo's bank, the one a few blocks away, the one he walked to this morning. Tablo.
Eunhyuk's cell phone rings.
He races for it, and it's Tablo's calling, Tablo.
"Hyung? Hyung, are you okay, tell me that you're okay, hyung-"
"I'm sorry, but this is Seoul Hospital calling... This number was listed as Tablo-shi's emergency contact... I'm afraid to tell you that Tablo-shi is dea-"
Eunhyuk screams. He screams and he throws the phone away from him. He grabs his hair, screams again. He's doubled over, screaming still, when Mithra comes running into the house.
"Eunhyuk-"
Eunhyuk shakes his head and screams and squeezes his eyes shut and screams and screams and screams.
-----
"Are these the new lyrics to the new song, hyung?"
"Mmhmm. Do you like them?"
"I like them alot. Do you have a title yet for the song?"
"I'm thinking... Butterfly Effect."
"Butterfly Effect? What's that mean?"
"It's this now nerd theory that a butterfly flapping it's wings in one part of the world can cause like, all these atmospheric changes and cause a tornado in another part of the world."
"Hahaha, you believe that?"
"Yeah... Why, you don't?"
"Not really. I mean, the whole butterfly thing? What's a butterfly got to do with a tornado?"
"...who knows? It could have everything to do with it."
----
Eunhyuk doesn’t eat. He sits in Tablo's empty house and cleans and straightens papers and books. At night, he sits on Tablo's bed and stares out the window.
He's alone for two days after the funeral (the second one, the second one, the second one) before Tukutz comes. He isn't quite surprised to see Eunhyuk there, alone.
"I just... I needed to see him... here." Tukutz apologizes for getting in Eunhyuk's space. Eunhyuk barely acknowledges his existence.
Tukutz nods silently, and he's just as quiet as he walks around the room, touching furniture and paper. He stops at Tablo's CD collection and stares for moments before pulling out a CD and clutching it to his chest and swallowing hard. He stays like that for what seems like an eternity. Eunhyuk forgets he's there at all, until Tukutz clears his throat, wipes his hand underneath his eyes, CD still pressed to him.
"I'm going to take this one... He just bought it a few days ago..."
Eunhyuk nods and doesn't take his eyes away from Tablo's keyboard, and the sheet music is still on the stand.
As Tukutz opens the door, Eunhyuk speaks softly.
"Did you know that it's true, hyung?"
Tukutz looks back at him. "What is?"
"The Butterfly Effect..."
Eunhyuk presses his hand over his mouth and for the first time, for the very first time, he cries for Tablo.
pg/r - blohyuk [tiny eunhyuk/henry]
warnings: i'll tell you as they come.
summary: “The Butterfly Effect- noun: a chaotic effect created by something seemingly insignificant, the phenomenon whereby a small change in one part of a complex system can have a large effect somewhere else.”
ONE.
drug use.
“Try it, just once.”
You want to resist, because you know that the little blue pill he’s holding out is bad, you know that it’s something horrid and evil and you’re supposed to stay away, but the look in his eyes is frightening and delicious, all at once.
The bed sheets are cool underneath you as you lean towards him, and he smells widely at you through his Harry Potter glasses. His fingers are soft as they brush your mouth, they taste like soap and potato chips as he slides the pill onto your tongue.
At first, you wonder if maybe you’re immune, and you can only stare at him, wide-eyed. You start to talk, but he cuts you off as he pushes you down to the bed.
You gasp, because his hand has plunged into your jeans and because the sheets underneath you, which you remember being rough cotton, suddenly feel like silk and whatever clouds are made of.
You’re caught in a daze of colors and touches and you clench your hands into the sheets and pull them around your skin while you push closer to him.
Its sex like you’ve never had it, and it’s almost painful, the deluge of scents and sights and touches that skim across your body and leave you breathless.
He grins at you, shakes his hair out of his eyes, and even though you can’t find your breath, that little blue pill hasn’t worn off yet, and you reach for him again.
-----
You hold out a little blue pill, and you grin slightly.
“Try it, just once.”
You see the younger boy’s eyes widen, narrow. He doesn’t need to know Korean to know what you’re holding out to him. He opens his mouth to say something, but you take the chance to slip the pill into his mouth.
He swallows without thought and he’s shocked, angry, betrayed… Until that magic pill starts in and he’s rubbing his hands across his denim-covered thighs and licks his lips and blinks at you.
TWO.
smut.
“I… I heard the new… album and-“Eunhyuk pants and throws his head back. He raises his hands and tangles them into his own hair because he needs to hold onto something, anything, and Tablo won’t let him touch him.
Tablo grunts and his fingers dig even more into the skin at Eunhyuk’s waist. He snaps his hips up and Eunhyuk lets out a groan from deep in his throat, raises himself up and drops down as fast as he can, which is never fast enough.
He forgets what he’s saying, what he’s thinking, forgets himself and breathes in the scent of Tablo’s cologne.
-----
“Did you like it?”
Eunhyuk blinks his eyes and stretches his back, lays his head down on the white pillow. “What?”
Tablo sits at his desk, never bothering to pull on his clothes, and he scribbles at a paper. “The new album, did you like it?”
Eunhyuk smiles sleepily, yawns. “Loved it…”
-----
“You have to stop this.”
Tablo shakes his head. “No.”
“Yes. I’ve been letting you get away with it because it wasn’t overly affecting your work. I’ve already let you have one album… So what’s this?” A sheaf of papers is thrown to the ground: the new lyrics, the new songs. “You’re not here to write love shit, Tablo. I’m going to pretend that none of this happened. So get rid of the boy and get rid of these lyrics.”
-----
Eunhyuk looks down at his shoes. “Was it… Something I did, hyung? Did I-“
“No.” Tablo keeps his back towards Eunhyuk, busy writing new lyrics. “It’s wasn’t you, so please leave.”
Eunhyuk stares at him for minutes, then he turns and leaves without another word. Tablo waits until he can hear his car driving away before he screams and overturns his desk and throws his CD cases.
THREE.
much fluff.
I laugh because I can. Eunhyuk turns to me, away from the night sky we’re staring at, lying on top of the roof of my house.
“What’s so funny?” His smile is all gums and white teeth, and I laugh harder.
“It’s just… It’s nice. This is nice.” I push myself up onto my elbow and smile down at him. ‘You’re nice.”
He rolls his eyes just slightly, but he smiles back. “Just nice?”
My laughter fades away, but I can still hear it in the air, like a bird’s song. I lean down and press my lips to his, chaste and unhurried, and he tangles his hand with mine.
I pull away and the stars seem brighter. Eunhyuk reaches up and pulls my shoulder, and he pulls me down to him. My ear is pressed against his heart and the beats are a new song under my fingertips and at the tip of my tongue.
“Did you know that Kibum finally asked out that girl he’s been crushing on?”
“Really?”
“Umhmm. Says he watched us for a while, and decided that if I could get the balls to confess, then he definitely could.” Eunhyuk doesn’t laugh, but it’s clear in his voice and the way his hand squeezes my shoulder.
“Wow, I’m finally a role model… What’d the girl say?” I trace the designs of his shirt against his chest and he swats my hand away.”
“Tickles… It was a yes, but he won’t tell anyone what exactly she said. I’m so curious too, because according to him, it was the best acceptance speech he’s ever heard.”
I raise my head slightly to peer down at him. The stars are reflected in his eyes. “Better than mine?”
Eunhyuk laughs this time. “Definitely not. I don’t even have to hear it to know that.” His face gets soft and bright and full of wonder. “Nothing could be better than yours.”
Satisfied, I lay back down, and it’s easy to start dozing off as Eunhyuk sings softly under his breathe. “그대는 내 머리위에 우산…”
FOUR.
character death.
Eunhyuk lets out a sound that makes everyone in the room flinch and cringe. He starts to crumble to the ground and Donghae rushes to catch him, and they both sink to the floor. Eunhyuk makes the sound again, his eyes wide and hazy and wild, and Donghae rocks him back and forth on the white linoleum floor of the hospital waiting room.
Tukutz faces a wall, fingers gripping at a support that’s not there, and his shoulders shake. Mithra sits on a chair with his hands over his face and Heechul is narrow-eyed beside him, patting his back.
Eunhyuk stretches out a hand towards the double doors that swing slightly back and forth as the doctor walks back through, mask in his hands, head own.
“Tablo.”
-----
It rains during the memorial service.
Eunhyuk doesn’t see the flashing of the cameras, but he hears the people crying around him. He kneels in front of Tablo’s picture and stares and even though more and more people come in to bow their last respects, no one dares to move him away…. They bow to the side of him.
Mithra carries Tablo’s picture out, Tukutz beside him. Tablo’s parents hold themselves up and follow, and a couple more relatives. Then it’s Eunhyuk, with Leeteuk beside him. Leeteuk holds his arm and pulls him along. Eunhyuk doesn’t blink at the rain.
-----
The funeral is small. Tablo’s family, Tukutz and Mithra, Eunhyuk and Heechul.
The tombstone has “Daniel Armand Lee” carved into it, and “Tablo” underneath. Eunhyuk shakes his head because it’s supposed to be the other way around.
People say last words, and Heechul nudges him slightly. Eunhyuk doesn’t turn from the sight of Tablo’s coffin as everyone looks at him, watches quietly and waits.
Eunhyuk’s fingers tighten on the flower he holds, and the sound as the stem breaks is like a gunshot; Eunhyuk’s final word.
-----
Eunhyuk prays that night, the first time in months.
“Bring him back, bring him back, bring him back.”
It’s Eunhyuk’s requiem for Tablo, and he falls asleep with the words on his lips.
-----
“Eunhyuk?” Something nudges his shoulder. “Eunhyuk, wake up.”
Eunhyuk blinks, opens his eyes. Hankyung smiles down at him, and he’s holding out the dorm phone.
Eunhyuk reaches for it without a second though. Hankyung turns to walk out. “Don’t take too long, we have to go soon.”
“Hello?” Eunhyuk’s throat is dry, hoarse.
“You left your phone at my place, again. You’re such a loser, you know that, Eunhyukkie? But you’re going to come get it, right? Like, maybe later on tonight when you don’t have anywhere else to be and you can stay and thank me properly for taking such good care of you?”
Eunhyuk can’t breathe.
“Eunhyukkie? Eunhyuk? Is something wrong?” Tablo sounds worried. ‘Come on, it’s not funny. Hyukjae?”
“I… I love you so much.” Eunhyuk closes his eyes to hold back tears. He clutches at the phone in his hands, and he think he hears the plastic creak.
“I love you too,” Tablo answers automatically. “Is something up?”
“No no, nothing’s wrong… Everything’s perfect.” Eunhyuk smiles.
-----
“It’s raining again, man.” Donghae looks regretfully out the window, fingers tapping against the glass. Eunhyuk freezes on his way to the kitchen. His heart stops.
No…
“It’s supposed to rain all week,” Kangin grumbles from the couch. “I’m supposed to take my little cousin out today too… Shit.”
The cup in Eunhyuk’s hand falls to the floor and it breaks into pieces, flying everywhere.
“Eunhyuk? What the hell? Are you okay? Eunhyuk!”
“What day is today? What day is today?” Eunhyuk can’t breathe.
“Wednesday. September…”
Everything is a roar in Eunhyuk’s ears.
Not again, not again, not again, please.
He lunges for the door.
“Eunhyuk! Eunhyuk!”
-----
“Hyung, open the door! Hyung!” Eunhyuk pounds on Tablo’s door with both fists and he's screaming. "Hyung!"
"Shit, I'm coming, I'm coming!" The door flings open and Tablo is clutching a towel to his waist, trying to slide wet into his robe. He frowns. "Eunhyuk? What's the matter?'
Eunhyuk rushes into Tablo's arms, and he holds on tight. The world seems to spin around him. "Don't go anywhere today, hyung, stay home with me today, hyung, please. Just today, just this once."
Tablo closes the door with his foot and holds Eunhyuk. "Sure thing. I needed to go to the bank, but it can wait until tomorrow."
Eunhyuk sighs, his heart slows down. The sounds of cars honking and crashing and metal screaming die from his ears. "Okay, but don't drive, okay? Please don't drive... Walk... It's not that far to your bank... Promise me you'll walk..."
"Okay, fine, I promise." Tablo's voice is slightly exasperated, but he never lets Eunhyuk go.
-----
Eunhyuk wakes up the next day and its Thursday and Tablo is still alive, breathing deeply next to him, still asleep. Eunhyuk swallows back his tears.
He's done it. He's stopped everything.
He goes back to sleep with his hand tangled with Tablo's.
-----
When he wakes up again, he's in bed alone.
"Tablo?!" Eunhyuk yells as he jumps from the bed, heart beating wildly. He gazes frantically around the room until his eyes land on a piece of blank sheet music on Tablo's pillow. He grabs at it, reads, sighs in relief and sinks back into the bed.
"went to the bank.
walking, like i promised~
make something yummy for breakfast? i'll be back soon.
LOVE YOU- tablo."
Eunhyuk can breathe again, because it's alright. He's stopped everything.
He dresses quickly, a pair of Tablo's boxers, one of Tablo's bigger shirts, and heads into the kitchen. He's not a good cook, but Tablo seems to love everything he makes. Maybe it's just a hidden chivalrous side to Tablo, to swallow anything Eunhyuk makes. He tries harder today than he's ever had. He works hard and cooks and cooks and when he's finally done, he's so proud. He lays everything out on the table, smiling. He glances up at the clock and his heart stops.
It's been two hours already, and Tablo is still not home.
Eunhyuk panics. He starts to run out the door, but what if Tablo is fine? Tablo was fine before... He couldn't live like this, always worrying.
Nothing was going to happen, not now.
It takes him ten minutes to breathe right again. Eunhyuk fumbles at the table for a few minutes more, then heads to the living room. His leg shakes, his fingers tap against his knee.
He turns on the TV, and it's too loud. Eunhyuk flinches, turns the sound down. He flips through channels and nothing is on but the news. He looks at the clock again and tosses the remote down, the news playing quietly. It's about the Olympics, again, Park Taehwan and his plans now that he's won the gold- and the segment is interrupted by breaking news.
"There has been a shooting today, at Daehwan Bank in Seoul. A group of robbers held the patrons hostage early this morning and though the police tried everything they could, the robbers shot four people before being shot themselves. We haven't received the names of the people shot, but we do know that two of them are dead, and the other two-"
Tablo's bank.
Eunhyuk gasps for air. Tablo's bank, the one a few blocks away, the one he walked to this morning. Tablo.
Eunhyuk's cell phone rings.
He races for it, and it's Tablo's calling, Tablo.
"Hyung? Hyung, are you okay, tell me that you're okay, hyung-"
"I'm sorry, but this is Seoul Hospital calling... This number was listed as Tablo-shi's emergency contact... I'm afraid to tell you that Tablo-shi is dea-"
Eunhyuk screams. He screams and he throws the phone away from him. He grabs his hair, screams again. He's doubled over, screaming still, when Mithra comes running into the house.
"Eunhyuk-"
Eunhyuk shakes his head and screams and squeezes his eyes shut and screams and screams and screams.
-----
"Are these the new lyrics to the new song, hyung?"
"Mmhmm. Do you like them?"
"I like them alot. Do you have a title yet for the song?"
"I'm thinking... Butterfly Effect."
"Butterfly Effect? What's that mean?"
"It's this now nerd theory that a butterfly flapping it's wings in one part of the world can cause like, all these atmospheric changes and cause a tornado in another part of the world."
"Hahaha, you believe that?"
"Yeah... Why, you don't?"
"Not really. I mean, the whole butterfly thing? What's a butterfly got to do with a tornado?"
"...who knows? It could have everything to do with it."
----
Eunhyuk doesn’t eat. He sits in Tablo's empty house and cleans and straightens papers and books. At night, he sits on Tablo's bed and stares out the window.
He's alone for two days after the funeral (the second one, the second one, the second one) before Tukutz comes. He isn't quite surprised to see Eunhyuk there, alone.
"I just... I needed to see him... here." Tukutz apologizes for getting in Eunhyuk's space. Eunhyuk barely acknowledges his existence.
Tukutz nods silently, and he's just as quiet as he walks around the room, touching furniture and paper. He stops at Tablo's CD collection and stares for moments before pulling out a CD and clutching it to his chest and swallowing hard. He stays like that for what seems like an eternity. Eunhyuk forgets he's there at all, until Tukutz clears his throat, wipes his hand underneath his eyes, CD still pressed to him.
"I'm going to take this one... He just bought it a few days ago..."
Eunhyuk nods and doesn't take his eyes away from Tablo's keyboard, and the sheet music is still on the stand.
As Tukutz opens the door, Eunhyuk speaks softly.
"Did you know that it's true, hyung?"
Tukutz looks back at him. "What is?"
"The Butterfly Effect..."
Eunhyuk presses his hand over his mouth and for the first time, for the very first time, he cries for Tablo.