hot summer
title: hot summer
rating: PG-13
fandom: Super Junior
pairing: Kangin/Leeteuk
summary: Summertime, story time.
author's note: written for olymfics 2013, with Loving U - SISTAR and these pictures as prompts.
once upon a time, there was a princess
It's a hot summer, a very hot one.
Leeteuk pushes the books back into the tall black shelves near the front of the bookstore, humming a tune as he works. BoA, the store manager, offers him a smile as she passes by, but she's in such a rush that Leeteuk barely has time to smile in return before the bells by the door tinkle in a sudden rush of warm summer air and her shoulder disappears from view. It's been a week since he started working here thanks to his high-school friend Sungmin, and he's happy with it.
Leeteuk loves bookstores. He always has. His parents have their summer packed full of business trips and conferences while his sister is off in CERN rubbing shoulders with the world's best physicists, so that just leaves Leeteuk. He'd considered internships at a physics laboratory again, and they usually accept him, but he'd rather not spend his third summer in a row washing laboratory apparatus, brewing coffee and being a scientist's butler. Not that he learns nothing from it - internships just get boring after a while. ("Hey intern, I have an appointment at 3pm with Dr. Kim. Note it down somewhere, and you can tag along later. Take notes if you want, it might be interesting.")
"Excuse me...?" A small voice startles Leeteuk, and he almost drops the books in his arms. He turns to see a little boy staring up at him. "Do you know where I can find Harry Potter?" Leeteuk smiles and bends down, so that the boy can look at him and not up at him.
"Sure I do. Come, I'll bring you there!" Leeteuk pats the little boy on the shoulder and begins walking further into the store, the boy trailing behind him. The cashier and fellow new worker, Leeteuk's classmate Sungmin, waves at him, and Seohyun cheerily greets him and the little boy as she breezes past them ("why hello, Seunghyun! Come here to read again?").
"Fiction, second aisle, third section from left...ah, here we are." Leeteuk mumbles to himself as they come to a stop in front of a whole shelf full of Harry Potter books. The little boy picks up a book and begins reading almost immediately, but pauses and looks up at Leeteuk.
"Thank you!" Leeteuk smiles and pats the boy on the shoulder again, before heading towards the counter. Sungmin waves goodbye to the lady he was attending to, and turns to Leeteuk. They chat a little, but just as Sungmin begins gushing about Changmin's friend that Leeteuk's seen everyday since he'd started work (Leeteuk's not interested in him, but Sungmin seems quite a fan), BoA returns and Leeteuk scrambles to get back to work.
A fairly ordinary job with fairly ordinary people. Leeteuk expects an ordinary summer.
----
one fine day, a handsome prince came to ask for her his hand
After two weeks of working at the bookstore, Leeteuk knows what he loves and hates. He loves seeing little kids turn page after page of fantasy, loves the smell of pages between hard covers, loves seeing people walk out into the summer light, books in hand. On the other hand, he dislikes people who bend the book spines, gets rather annoyed with people who complain loudly about how useless books are, and gets very irritated with people who put books on their side (or worse, upside down) instead of facing up, front cover outward.
One thing does irk Leeteuk, though. A certain fellow who shows up every day.
Kyuhyun tells him all about the guy (“he’s not that bad a fellow once you get to know him!” Sungmin pipes up defensively when Leeteuk raises an eyebrow). Kangin. Kyuhyun’s senior in Kyunghee, Chemistry major, part of the university rugby team, heading to Harvard for graduate studies in the fall. Leeteuk mentally adds one more thing to the list: First Class Honours in Jackassery.
Leeteuk doesn’t usually hate people, really. His life motto is to be nice to everyone where possible. People like Kangin just make doing so very difficult. Between the lame pick-up lines, practical jokes and Kangin’s constant attempts to elicit a response from Leeteuk (much to everyone’s amusement), it takes every fibre of Leeteuk’s being to not thwack Kangin over the head with the nearest copy of Fifty Shades of Grey. The idea starts to sound more appealing, though, when Kangin starts appearing everywhere Leeteuk goes.
“So, Sungkyunkwan student, Physics major?” Leeteuk doesn’t bother answering. “Sungmin told Kyuhyun about you, and Kyuhyun told me. Nice guys, those two.” Leeteuk shoots Sungmin his best i-will-cut-you glare as Sungmin, having anticipated it, ducks behind a shelf of envelopes, innocently whistling For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow.
“Hey, will you look or not, at a man like me?” Kangin’s voice grates on Leeteuk’s nerves, and Leeteuk puts down a copy of A Clash of Kings with just a little too much force. (He pretends not to hear Heechul chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!”. Behind Leeteuk, Kyuhyun whispers to Changmin and Yunho. “Ten bucks says Leeteuk’s going to throw something soon." "So little faith in him? You're on.") If Kangin gets the hint, he certainly has chosen to ignore it.
“You know, Heisenberg was wrong. I’m quite sure I know what you’ll be doing tonight.” Leeteuk slams down a box set of Chicken Soup for The Soul and glares at Kangin. Before Leeteuk can say anything, BoA steps between them, nudges him away and cheerily informs Kangin that the store is closing, even though it is nowhere near evening. Kyuhyun plays along and leaves as Kangin strolls out of the bookstore escorted by BoA, smirking as Leeteuk’s glare burns into his back.
“Please just get a room, I don’t like having to bleach out my ears after work every day.” Leeteuk throws a stapler at Heechul but misses, the stapler sailing past Heechul’s head, with Jaejoong catching it just before it hits a glass display case of fountain pens. BoA returns to see Leeteuk glaring daggers at Heechul and Sungmin, takes a guess at why the stapler has ended up with Jaejoong and immediately shoos them all back to work.
Behind the counter, Yunho turns to Changmin. “Pay up.”
----
it was love hate at first sight
----
undeterred, the prince pressed on
Leeteuk turns yet another dictionary the right way up, cursing Kangin under his breath. For the fifth time in a week, an entire section of books is upside down, and it's barely even Wednesday. For some reason, BoA doesn't seem to complain - she just sends Leeteuk to clean up the mess. So here he is, in front of four shelves of dictionaries each as thick as his wrist, and almost done with the last shelf. Just when Leeteuk thinks the day couldn't get any worse, a very familiar someone leans against the shelf and picks up a blue dictionary, flipping through it.
Leeteuk ignores him.
There is a little sound of mock surprise from Kangin, and a less-than-quiet "oh dear". Leeteuk glares at Kangin, who carries on, unaffected.
"You know, your store really shouldn't carry this dictionary." Leeteuk is confused, but at the same time, he thinks he knows where this is going. "There's an error in it." Leeteuk doesn't intend to flip through the monstrosity of a dictionary called the Collins Cobuild Advanced Dictionary, so he waits for Kangin to say it. Kangin grins and flips to a page near the front, pointing somewhere on the page.
"You see, the definition of 'beautiful' doesn't have you in it."
Leeteuk snatches the book from him, slams it back on the shelf and storms off.
----
The sky is dark outside, and BoA sends Leeteuk on a final round of checks around the bookstore while she locks up the counter. Leeteuk's almost done with the round when he sees something all too familiar in the Physics and Chemistry sections - upside-down books.
As Leeteuk glares at the line of upside-down words, something about the very first book catches his eye. A bright yellow Post-It note, stuck on Physics Matters: An Introduction to Conceptual Physics on the top shelf.
Hello :) follow me. --->
The arrow points to an upside-down book. Below that is another upside down book. And another. Leeteuk catches on pretty quickly, and starts following the trail of oddly-positioned books. A book lying on its side. Two more, one down, across into the Chemistry section, two up, four left, one down.
The trail ends there. Leeteuk blinks in confusion, picking up the last book. The copy of Modern Chemistry looks like any other textbook. Something yellow peeks out between the pages.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
---Newton’s Third Law
The more you resist, the more I’ll ask.
Below the neat writing is a string of numbers.
Two blocks away, Kangin’s phone rings.
----
The next day, Sungmin pesters Leeteuk about it over lunch. Leeteuk tells him about everything, from the book trail to the contents of the phone call.
“So, summer fling, huh? That’s what you guys agreed on?” Leeteuk nods.
“It’ll be fun, I think. It’s nice anyway.” Sungmin hardly looks convinced.
“So when summer ends, it’s over?” Another nod.
Leeteuk’s quite sure of that. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”
----
and so the story goes dee dah dee
----
Thanks to Sungmin, the entire bookstore finds out about Kangin and Leeteuk by Monday. It’s only been two days.
Leeteuk is on his usual rounds when a hand reaches out from behind a shelf of encyclopaedias and yanks him behind it. All Leeteuk manages to get out is “What the fu-“ before a pair of warm lips are on his, careful but determined. So Leeteuk obliges.
Sungmin walks past a moment later, does a double take, and then hurries away. By the counter, Yunho grumbles under his breath as he hands twenty dollars to a very smug Kyuhyun.
----
Time passes, and time flies. Leeteuk wakes up to bright morning calls and messages, goes to work and sees Kangin hanging around the bookstore (fortunately for Leeteuk, the upside-down books stopped appearing after he and Kangin got together), and has company in the nights, when his text message of “are you there? I’m bored :(“ is answered almost instantaneously.
It is nice. It is fun.
BoA calls Leeteuk one Friday night and tells him not to come in for work the weekend. She rarely lets anyone off work on a normal day, much less give out free days, so Leeteuk goes along with it. On Saturday, Kangin brings Leeteuk somewhere familiar; somewhere Leeteuk’s been countless times and met different people in.
The smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol fills the air, and the music is louder than Leeteuk remembers it to be. Kangin walks in, head held high and gaze perfectly straight, Leeteuk’s hand in his. A few people give them odd looks, and a few girls and guys on the dance floor gives Leeteuk the thumbs-up as Kangin leads him past them. Someone waves to them as Kangin pulls Leeteuk over.
“Guys, I’d like you to meet someone. This is Leeteuk.” Leeteuk nods. He hates awkward introductions, but introductions at a club are never awkward. Judging from the number of empty shot glasses already on the counter by Kangin’s friends, the night will be fun.
“Leeteuk, this is Ryeowook-“ A blonde-haired boy beams and waves. “Jongwoon-“ The one with an arm around Ryeowook nods. “Junsu-“ Said person winks at Leeteuk and earns himself a pinch on the arm from Ryeowook. “-and Kris.” The last person smiles a little and gestures to the seats next to him. Kangin nudges Leeteuk into the seat next to Kris, and takes the last seat along the counter.
“So, let’s play a game. How does ‘Never Have I Ever’ sound?” Kangin laughs and beckons to the bartender, who walks over with six full mugs of beer. Leeteuk turns back to see five pairs of questioning eyes on him.
“I’m in.” He doesn’t need to go to work the next day anyway.
----
By the time they stumble into Leeteuk’s apartment, Kangin’s tongue down Leeteuk’s throat and Leeteuk’s hands going where they probably shouldn’t, neither of them can walk three steps in a straight line. Between heady kisses and little fleeting touches, something at the back of Leeteuk’s mind reminds him that things like this never last.
He’s too drunk on Kangin to care.
The rest of the night passes in sloppy kisses, desperate moans and all Leeteuk can think of, in his state of mind, is how at least this summer isn’t a lonely one.
He falls asleep in Kangin’s arms, too tired and too happy to care about the sweat-soaked sheets and how the next morning will feel like.
----
The next morning, Leeteuk wakes up to an empty bed, a foul taste in his mouth and a splitting headache. He remembers bits and pieces of people, places and things - downing shot after shot (he’d always been useless at drinking games), snitching Kris’s vodka Coke.
The rest of the night had been a blur of pleasure and pain, and the only thing Leeteuk can think of is thank God I don’t need to work today. He stumbles out of bed and towards the bathroom. It only dawns on him that he’s the only one left in his apartment. The cold water jolts him out of his grogginess, and Leeteuk shrugs the thought off as perhaps he had somewhere to go. The bathroom clock reads “0724”.
He’s out of the shower and towelling his hair dry, looking for something to eat. The only things in his fridge are two bottles of cola, an opened pack of Skittles and a slice of two-week-old pizza in a plastic container (a bright green Post-It on it reads in Leeteuk’s handwriting “Throw out if not eaten by the 31st”). Leeteuk takes the Skittles and opens a bottle of cola, flopping down on a beanbag in the living room. A bright green Post-It on the beanbag reads “Jaejoong borrowed the chair, get it back tomorrow” in Leeteuk’s writing.
There is nothing good on television except the news and Pororo, so he settles for the latter. His phone sits quietly next to him, and Leeteuk can’t help but glance at it every now and then, a slight disappointment growing steadily as time passes, but no message or call from Kangin comes in.
Then he hears keys outside his door.
Leeteuk gets up and heads over to look through the peephole, but just as he leans forward to do so, the door opens and hits him in the forehead. Kangin stands in the doorway, two bags of food in hand and an apologetic look on his face.
“Sorry! Didn’t see you there. I got breakfast.” Kangin lifts the two bags of food slightly. Leeteuk moves out of the way, closing the door behind Kangin. The smell of waffles and coffee fills the entire apartment.
“Here, thanks.” Kangin drops a bunch of keys in Leeteuk’s hands. When Leeteuk just stares at him in confusion, he gestures towards a hook on the wall. “Borrowed your keys, and left you a note. Seems like you didn’t see it.” Leeteuk’s gaze follows Kangin’s gesture, and rests on a bright green Post-It sitting below the hook.
…oh. Not his writing.
The meal passes in companionable silence, and Leeteuk spends most of the morning watching Pororo and reruns of Music Bank next to Kangin on the beanbag. The girls on television dance in summer dresses against a beach background, but Leeteuk pays little attention to them. For once, summer is spent with someone, and not in a cold physics lab washing test tubes.
It is nice.
----
baby I’m in love with you
----
Time passes, and time flies.
Summer is nearly over.
Nearly.
The store is closed for stocktaking. Kangin and Kyuhyun have gone to watch a baseball game, while Sungmin and Leeteuk go through shelf after shelf of books.
Sungmin speaks first. “So, summer fling.”
Leeteuk doesn’t answer. There is no need to.
“Summer’s ending soon, you know. Two weeks.” Still no answer. Sungmin presses on.
“When summer ends, it’s over? Does it still seem like it won’t be too hard?”
Sungmin gets no answer, because Leeteuk doesn’t know what the answer is.
----
and they both lived happily ever after
They both saw it coming.
The air is colder now. Leeteuk can still feel the warmth of summer, but it’s going away.
There are no tears, only silences. They both know what the other wants to say, and they both understand. They both know what happens next, but neither of them intends to say it.
Tick. Tick. Tick. The second hand on Kangin's watch ticks past three. Come on, move on.
Kangin breaks the silence first. "So. CERN?" Leeteuk nods, but doesn't answer. The second hand ticks past twelve, then six, and then twelve again.
Leeteuk looks at Kangin for the first time in the day. "So I guess I'll never hear from you again?"
"Most likely. You'll be off in particle physics laboratories, doing whatever a physicist does, and I'll be...in Massachusetts. So the story ends here." Leeteuk nods, and gets off the park bench to leave. Before he can take a step away, though, he's in Kangin's arms, and Kangin's lips are on his, and the only thing Leeteuk can think of is if this is how the story ends, it’s a pretty happy ending
Kangin pulls away first, and the last thing he sees before he turns to leave is Leeteuk's smile. As Kangin's retreating figure grows smaller and finally disappears behind a large tree, Leeteuk heads the other way.
It was nice while it lasted.
----
the story ends here, but the doors remain open
----
Three years later
It's a hot summer, a very hot one.
Kangin closes the book in his hands and puts it back on the tall black shelves behind him. The store manager hurries past him, but still offers him a smile and a cheerful "Good afternoon!" before the bells by the door tinkle in a rush of warm summer air. It's been a week since summer started, three days since his plane landed in Incheon and he'd set foot on Korean soil for the first time in three years.
He loves bookstores. He always has. This place is familiar, but the people are not. Except maybe one.
Kangin wants to walk over to the bookstore worker with his hair falling into his eyes and say something witty the way he always does (the way he did), but his attempt to think of something turns up only blanks. So he gives up and quietly watches instead, watching as the man continues shelving books. Something catches his eye - a silver ring on the fourth finger. Kangin's not sure what he's feeling.
"Excuse me?" The man turns to look at a little boy staring up at him. "Can you show me where the Artemis Fowl books are?" Kangin watches as the worker smiles and bends down to look at the little boy. "Of course I can. Come on, I'll bring you there."
Kangin watches them disappear into an aisle behind one of the shelves marked "Self-Help". For a moment, he thinks of waiting right here, for the worker to come out, for a chance to talk to him and say something. How it's never really been over, how things hadn't changed much, how that ring makes him feel uneasy, how...
...how there were so many things he wants to say but has no idea how to put across.
Instead, Kangin types something on his phone, presses 'Send' and leaves, glancing back one last time as footsteps are heard on the wooden floor behind the Self-Help shelf.
----
As Leeteuk walks back to the New Arrivals shelf, his phone buzzes. On the screen is a number Leeteuk hasn't seen in years (one that he's wanted to see), one he remembers but never dared to call.
From: ...don't call this number
You seem well. Haven't changed much, huh? Congratulations. Whoever the guy is, he's a lucky man.
The sound of tinkling bells snaps Leeteuk back to reality. Through the glass doors, he sees a familiar figure step onto the sidewalk opposite and begin walking away.
----
The bells tinkle again, and somewhere nearby, tyres screech against asphalt. A ring rolls down the road, coming to rest against the kerb.
perhaps the story hasn't ended
rating: PG-13
fandom: Super Junior
pairing: Kangin/Leeteuk
summary: Summertime, story time.
author's note: written for olymfics 2013, with Loving U - SISTAR and these pictures as prompts.
once upon a time, there was a princess
It's a hot summer, a very hot one.
Leeteuk pushes the books back into the tall black shelves near the front of the bookstore, humming a tune as he works. BoA, the store manager, offers him a smile as she passes by, but she's in such a rush that Leeteuk barely has time to smile in return before the bells by the door tinkle in a sudden rush of warm summer air and her shoulder disappears from view. It's been a week since he started working here thanks to his high-school friend Sungmin, and he's happy with it.
Leeteuk loves bookstores. He always has. His parents have their summer packed full of business trips and conferences while his sister is off in CERN rubbing shoulders with the world's best physicists, so that just leaves Leeteuk. He'd considered internships at a physics laboratory again, and they usually accept him, but he'd rather not spend his third summer in a row washing laboratory apparatus, brewing coffee and being a scientist's butler. Not that he learns nothing from it - internships just get boring after a while. ("Hey intern, I have an appointment at 3pm with Dr. Kim. Note it down somewhere, and you can tag along later. Take notes if you want, it might be interesting.")
"Excuse me...?" A small voice startles Leeteuk, and he almost drops the books in his arms. He turns to see a little boy staring up at him. "Do you know where I can find Harry Potter?" Leeteuk smiles and bends down, so that the boy can look at him and not up at him.
"Sure I do. Come, I'll bring you there!" Leeteuk pats the little boy on the shoulder and begins walking further into the store, the boy trailing behind him. The cashier and fellow new worker, Leeteuk's classmate Sungmin, waves at him, and Seohyun cheerily greets him and the little boy as she breezes past them ("why hello, Seunghyun! Come here to read again?").
"Fiction, second aisle, third section from left...ah, here we are." Leeteuk mumbles to himself as they come to a stop in front of a whole shelf full of Harry Potter books. The little boy picks up a book and begins reading almost immediately, but pauses and looks up at Leeteuk.
"Thank you!" Leeteuk smiles and pats the boy on the shoulder again, before heading towards the counter. Sungmin waves goodbye to the lady he was attending to, and turns to Leeteuk. They chat a little, but just as Sungmin begins gushing about Changmin's friend that Leeteuk's seen everyday since he'd started work (Leeteuk's not interested in him, but Sungmin seems quite a fan), BoA returns and Leeteuk scrambles to get back to work.
A fairly ordinary job with fairly ordinary people. Leeteuk expects an ordinary summer.
----
one fine day, a handsome prince came to ask for her his hand
After two weeks of working at the bookstore, Leeteuk knows what he loves and hates. He loves seeing little kids turn page after page of fantasy, loves the smell of pages between hard covers, loves seeing people walk out into the summer light, books in hand. On the other hand, he dislikes people who bend the book spines, gets rather annoyed with people who complain loudly about how useless books are, and gets very irritated with people who put books on their side (or worse, upside down) instead of facing up, front cover outward.
One thing does irk Leeteuk, though. A certain fellow who shows up every day.
Kyuhyun tells him all about the guy (“he’s not that bad a fellow once you get to know him!” Sungmin pipes up defensively when Leeteuk raises an eyebrow). Kangin. Kyuhyun’s senior in Kyunghee, Chemistry major, part of the university rugby team, heading to Harvard for graduate studies in the fall. Leeteuk mentally adds one more thing to the list: First Class Honours in Jackassery.
Leeteuk doesn’t usually hate people, really. His life motto is to be nice to everyone where possible. People like Kangin just make doing so very difficult. Between the lame pick-up lines, practical jokes and Kangin’s constant attempts to elicit a response from Leeteuk (much to everyone’s amusement), it takes every fibre of Leeteuk’s being to not thwack Kangin over the head with the nearest copy of Fifty Shades of Grey. The idea starts to sound more appealing, though, when Kangin starts appearing everywhere Leeteuk goes.
“So, Sungkyunkwan student, Physics major?” Leeteuk doesn’t bother answering. “Sungmin told Kyuhyun about you, and Kyuhyun told me. Nice guys, those two.” Leeteuk shoots Sungmin his best i-will-cut-you glare as Sungmin, having anticipated it, ducks behind a shelf of envelopes, innocently whistling For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow.
“Hey, will you look or not, at a man like me?” Kangin’s voice grates on Leeteuk’s nerves, and Leeteuk puts down a copy of A Clash of Kings with just a little too much force. (He pretends not to hear Heechul chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!”. Behind Leeteuk, Kyuhyun whispers to Changmin and Yunho. “Ten bucks says Leeteuk’s going to throw something soon." "So little faith in him? You're on.") If Kangin gets the hint, he certainly has chosen to ignore it.
“You know, Heisenberg was wrong. I’m quite sure I know what you’ll be doing tonight.” Leeteuk slams down a box set of Chicken Soup for The Soul and glares at Kangin. Before Leeteuk can say anything, BoA steps between them, nudges him away and cheerily informs Kangin that the store is closing, even though it is nowhere near evening. Kyuhyun plays along and leaves as Kangin strolls out of the bookstore escorted by BoA, smirking as Leeteuk’s glare burns into his back.
“Please just get a room, I don’t like having to bleach out my ears after work every day.” Leeteuk throws a stapler at Heechul but misses, the stapler sailing past Heechul’s head, with Jaejoong catching it just before it hits a glass display case of fountain pens. BoA returns to see Leeteuk glaring daggers at Heechul and Sungmin, takes a guess at why the stapler has ended up with Jaejoong and immediately shoos them all back to work.
Behind the counter, Yunho turns to Changmin. “Pay up.”
----
it was love hate at first sight
----
undeterred, the prince pressed on
Leeteuk turns yet another dictionary the right way up, cursing Kangin under his breath. For the fifth time in a week, an entire section of books is upside down, and it's barely even Wednesday. For some reason, BoA doesn't seem to complain - she just sends Leeteuk to clean up the mess. So here he is, in front of four shelves of dictionaries each as thick as his wrist, and almost done with the last shelf. Just when Leeteuk thinks the day couldn't get any worse, a very familiar someone leans against the shelf and picks up a blue dictionary, flipping through it.
Leeteuk ignores him.
There is a little sound of mock surprise from Kangin, and a less-than-quiet "oh dear". Leeteuk glares at Kangin, who carries on, unaffected.
"You know, your store really shouldn't carry this dictionary." Leeteuk is confused, but at the same time, he thinks he knows where this is going. "There's an error in it." Leeteuk doesn't intend to flip through the monstrosity of a dictionary called the Collins Cobuild Advanced Dictionary, so he waits for Kangin to say it. Kangin grins and flips to a page near the front, pointing somewhere on the page.
"You see, the definition of 'beautiful' doesn't have you in it."
Leeteuk snatches the book from him, slams it back on the shelf and storms off.
----
The sky is dark outside, and BoA sends Leeteuk on a final round of checks around the bookstore while she locks up the counter. Leeteuk's almost done with the round when he sees something all too familiar in the Physics and Chemistry sections - upside-down books.
As Leeteuk glares at the line of upside-down words, something about the very first book catches his eye. A bright yellow Post-It note, stuck on Physics Matters: An Introduction to Conceptual Physics on the top shelf.
Hello :) follow me. --->
The arrow points to an upside-down book. Below that is another upside down book. And another. Leeteuk catches on pretty quickly, and starts following the trail of oddly-positioned books. A book lying on its side. Two more, one down, across into the Chemistry section, two up, four left, one down.
The trail ends there. Leeteuk blinks in confusion, picking up the last book. The copy of Modern Chemistry looks like any other textbook. Something yellow peeks out between the pages.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
---Newton’s Third Law
The more you resist, the more I’ll ask.
Below the neat writing is a string of numbers.
Two blocks away, Kangin’s phone rings.
----
The next day, Sungmin pesters Leeteuk about it over lunch. Leeteuk tells him about everything, from the book trail to the contents of the phone call.
“So, summer fling, huh? That’s what you guys agreed on?” Leeteuk nods.
“It’ll be fun, I think. It’s nice anyway.” Sungmin hardly looks convinced.
“So when summer ends, it’s over?” Another nod.
Leeteuk’s quite sure of that. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”
----
and so the story goes dee dah dee
----
Thanks to Sungmin, the entire bookstore finds out about Kangin and Leeteuk by Monday. It’s only been two days.
Leeteuk is on his usual rounds when a hand reaches out from behind a shelf of encyclopaedias and yanks him behind it. All Leeteuk manages to get out is “What the fu-“ before a pair of warm lips are on his, careful but determined. So Leeteuk obliges.
Sungmin walks past a moment later, does a double take, and then hurries away. By the counter, Yunho grumbles under his breath as he hands twenty dollars to a very smug Kyuhyun.
----
Time passes, and time flies. Leeteuk wakes up to bright morning calls and messages, goes to work and sees Kangin hanging around the bookstore (fortunately for Leeteuk, the upside-down books stopped appearing after he and Kangin got together), and has company in the nights, when his text message of “are you there? I’m bored :(“ is answered almost instantaneously.
It is nice. It is fun.
BoA calls Leeteuk one Friday night and tells him not to come in for work the weekend. She rarely lets anyone off work on a normal day, much less give out free days, so Leeteuk goes along with it. On Saturday, Kangin brings Leeteuk somewhere familiar; somewhere Leeteuk’s been countless times and met different people in.
The smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol fills the air, and the music is louder than Leeteuk remembers it to be. Kangin walks in, head held high and gaze perfectly straight, Leeteuk’s hand in his. A few people give them odd looks, and a few girls and guys on the dance floor gives Leeteuk the thumbs-up as Kangin leads him past them. Someone waves to them as Kangin pulls Leeteuk over.
“Guys, I’d like you to meet someone. This is Leeteuk.” Leeteuk nods. He hates awkward introductions, but introductions at a club are never awkward. Judging from the number of empty shot glasses already on the counter by Kangin’s friends, the night will be fun.
“Leeteuk, this is Ryeowook-“ A blonde-haired boy beams and waves. “Jongwoon-“ The one with an arm around Ryeowook nods. “Junsu-“ Said person winks at Leeteuk and earns himself a pinch on the arm from Ryeowook. “-and Kris.” The last person smiles a little and gestures to the seats next to him. Kangin nudges Leeteuk into the seat next to Kris, and takes the last seat along the counter.
“So, let’s play a game. How does ‘Never Have I Ever’ sound?” Kangin laughs and beckons to the bartender, who walks over with six full mugs of beer. Leeteuk turns back to see five pairs of questioning eyes on him.
“I’m in.” He doesn’t need to go to work the next day anyway.
----
By the time they stumble into Leeteuk’s apartment, Kangin’s tongue down Leeteuk’s throat and Leeteuk’s hands going where they probably shouldn’t, neither of them can walk three steps in a straight line. Between heady kisses and little fleeting touches, something at the back of Leeteuk’s mind reminds him that things like this never last.
He’s too drunk on Kangin to care.
The rest of the night passes in sloppy kisses, desperate moans and all Leeteuk can think of, in his state of mind, is how at least this summer isn’t a lonely one.
He falls asleep in Kangin’s arms, too tired and too happy to care about the sweat-soaked sheets and how the next morning will feel like.
----
The next morning, Leeteuk wakes up to an empty bed, a foul taste in his mouth and a splitting headache. He remembers bits and pieces of people, places and things - downing shot after shot (he’d always been useless at drinking games), snitching Kris’s vodka Coke.
The rest of the night had been a blur of pleasure and pain, and the only thing Leeteuk can think of is thank God I don’t need to work today. He stumbles out of bed and towards the bathroom. It only dawns on him that he’s the only one left in his apartment. The cold water jolts him out of his grogginess, and Leeteuk shrugs the thought off as perhaps he had somewhere to go. The bathroom clock reads “0724”.
He’s out of the shower and towelling his hair dry, looking for something to eat. The only things in his fridge are two bottles of cola, an opened pack of Skittles and a slice of two-week-old pizza in a plastic container (a bright green Post-It on it reads in Leeteuk’s handwriting “Throw out if not eaten by the 31st”). Leeteuk takes the Skittles and opens a bottle of cola, flopping down on a beanbag in the living room. A bright green Post-It on the beanbag reads “Jaejoong borrowed the chair, get it back tomorrow” in Leeteuk’s writing.
There is nothing good on television except the news and Pororo, so he settles for the latter. His phone sits quietly next to him, and Leeteuk can’t help but glance at it every now and then, a slight disappointment growing steadily as time passes, but no message or call from Kangin comes in.
Then he hears keys outside his door.
Leeteuk gets up and heads over to look through the peephole, but just as he leans forward to do so, the door opens and hits him in the forehead. Kangin stands in the doorway, two bags of food in hand and an apologetic look on his face.
“Sorry! Didn’t see you there. I got breakfast.” Kangin lifts the two bags of food slightly. Leeteuk moves out of the way, closing the door behind Kangin. The smell of waffles and coffee fills the entire apartment.
“Here, thanks.” Kangin drops a bunch of keys in Leeteuk’s hands. When Leeteuk just stares at him in confusion, he gestures towards a hook on the wall. “Borrowed your keys, and left you a note. Seems like you didn’t see it.” Leeteuk’s gaze follows Kangin’s gesture, and rests on a bright green Post-It sitting below the hook.
…oh. Not his writing.
The meal passes in companionable silence, and Leeteuk spends most of the morning watching Pororo and reruns of Music Bank next to Kangin on the beanbag. The girls on television dance in summer dresses against a beach background, but Leeteuk pays little attention to them. For once, summer is spent with someone, and not in a cold physics lab washing test tubes.
It is nice.
----
baby I’m in love with you
----
Time passes, and time flies.
Summer is nearly over.
Nearly.
The store is closed for stocktaking. Kangin and Kyuhyun have gone to watch a baseball game, while Sungmin and Leeteuk go through shelf after shelf of books.
Sungmin speaks first. “So, summer fling.”
Leeteuk doesn’t answer. There is no need to.
“Summer’s ending soon, you know. Two weeks.” Still no answer. Sungmin presses on.
“When summer ends, it’s over? Does it still seem like it won’t be too hard?”
Sungmin gets no answer, because Leeteuk doesn’t know what the answer is.
----
and they both lived happily ever after
They both saw it coming.
The air is colder now. Leeteuk can still feel the warmth of summer, but it’s going away.
There are no tears, only silences. They both know what the other wants to say, and they both understand. They both know what happens next, but neither of them intends to say it.
Tick. Tick. Tick. The second hand on Kangin's watch ticks past three. Come on, move on.
Kangin breaks the silence first. "So. CERN?" Leeteuk nods, but doesn't answer. The second hand ticks past twelve, then six, and then twelve again.
Leeteuk looks at Kangin for the first time in the day. "So I guess I'll never hear from you again?"
"Most likely. You'll be off in particle physics laboratories, doing whatever a physicist does, and I'll be...in Massachusetts. So the story ends here." Leeteuk nods, and gets off the park bench to leave. Before he can take a step away, though, he's in Kangin's arms, and Kangin's lips are on his, and the only thing Leeteuk can think of is if this is how the story ends, it’s a pretty happy ending
Kangin pulls away first, and the last thing he sees before he turns to leave is Leeteuk's smile. As Kangin's retreating figure grows smaller and finally disappears behind a large tree, Leeteuk heads the other way.
It was nice while it lasted.
----
the story ends here, but the doors remain open
----
Three years later
It's a hot summer, a very hot one.
Kangin closes the book in his hands and puts it back on the tall black shelves behind him. The store manager hurries past him, but still offers him a smile and a cheerful "Good afternoon!" before the bells by the door tinkle in a rush of warm summer air. It's been a week since summer started, three days since his plane landed in Incheon and he'd set foot on Korean soil for the first time in three years.
He loves bookstores. He always has. This place is familiar, but the people are not. Except maybe one.
Kangin wants to walk over to the bookstore worker with his hair falling into his eyes and say something witty the way he always does (the way he did), but his attempt to think of something turns up only blanks. So he gives up and quietly watches instead, watching as the man continues shelving books. Something catches his eye - a silver ring on the fourth finger. Kangin's not sure what he's feeling.
"Excuse me?" The man turns to look at a little boy staring up at him. "Can you show me where the Artemis Fowl books are?" Kangin watches as the worker smiles and bends down to look at the little boy. "Of course I can. Come on, I'll bring you there."
Kangin watches them disappear into an aisle behind one of the shelves marked "Self-Help". For a moment, he thinks of waiting right here, for the worker to come out, for a chance to talk to him and say something. How it's never really been over, how things hadn't changed much, how that ring makes him feel uneasy, how...
...how there were so many things he wants to say but has no idea how to put across.
Instead, Kangin types something on his phone, presses 'Send' and leaves, glancing back one last time as footsteps are heard on the wooden floor behind the Self-Help shelf.
----
As Leeteuk walks back to the New Arrivals shelf, his phone buzzes. On the screen is a number Leeteuk hasn't seen in years (one that he's wanted to see), one he remembers but never dared to call.
From: ...don't call this number
You seem well. Haven't changed much, huh? Congratulations. Whoever the guy is, he's a lucky man.
The sound of tinkling bells snaps Leeteuk back to reality. Through the glass doors, he sees a familiar figure step onto the sidewalk opposite and begin walking away.
----
The bells tinkle again, and somewhere nearby, tyres screech against asphalt. A ring rolls down the road, coming to rest against the kerb.
perhaps the story hasn't ended