Revelations
Title: Revelations
Prompt: 17 - cards, DongHyun/HyunSung
Pairing: Gen
Rating: G
Summary: DongHyun figures it out
Notes: Part five.
Disclaimer: Not mine, not true
See Table here!
Series: Rescue, Safe (for Now), Much Needed Naps, Life Goes On
The conversation stayed on DongHyun's mind. Not so much the result, the idea that the three youngest would rather die, but JungMin's reaction. Something just didn't sit right. He could not get JungMin alone to talk to him. HyunSung took it upon himself to get between DongHyun and JungMin, and he did it well.
It didn't make him feel any better.
He took his day off to go shopping and pick up things they needed, and saw that things would get even worse soon. It would start getting harder to live, and they needed to start supplementing their food source. The people they relied on now wouldn't be able to help much longer. He wouldn't be able to get much more for very long, just because they'd start cracking down, start paying attention on how much he tried to buy.
It didn't make his day any brighter.
When he got back to the apartment, he came in to find JungMin at the table, sitting so still he looked almost like a statue instead of a person. He frowned, almost asking where everyone was.
It hit him, something he vaguely remembered from the first chaotic days, and he had to tighten his hold on his bags so he didn't drop them. He didn't know how HyunSung fit in, yet, but he would. "Can I get some help?" he finally said.
JungMin started. "Oh, sure," he said, and got to his feet. He took a couple of the bags from DongHyun and led the way into the kitchen.
"Do you know anything about gardening?" DongHyun asked as they put things away.
"No," JungMin said.
"Does HyunSung?"
"Not that I know of," JungMin said with a glance in his direction.
"Does he know?" DongHyun asked a while later.
"Know?"
"Who you are."
JungMin went still. "Who I am?"
"Mr. Lee's son."
After a moment, JungMin sighed. "Yes. He… is my bodyguard and opted to go with me when I… decided to leave home."
"Which is why he's trying to keep you away from everyone else."
"He's afraid," JungMin said.
"I suppose he has a good reason to be," DongHyun said. "It wouldn't take much for people to turn on you, once they knew who you were."
"You won't?"
"If you agreed, you wouldn't be here."
"If I thought I could have changed something, I wouldn't be here. I couldn't. I tried, I did everything I could think of to get him to stop, to do something else, and…." He sighed. "I couldn't get him to stop. I just… couldn't."
DongHyun patted his shoulder. "I know," he said. "Or you wouldn't be here at all."
JungMin laughed softly. "But it's going to get worse," he said.
"It is worse," DongHyun said. "I don't know how long we're going to be able to keep this up." He closed a cupboard door. "That's why I hope one of the others knows something about gardening. Otherwise, the soldiers won't have to find us. We'll all starve."
"Yeah," JungMin said. "I don't know how to stop that, either."
"Don't worry about it," DongHyun said. "Maybe something will happen."
"Something will happen," JungMin said. "I just hope it's something good."
DongHyun laughed. "Yes," he said. "Something good."
HyunSung knew something had changed as soon as he walked inside. He didn't have a chance to ask, though, because KwangMin, YoungMin, and Minwoo came in just behind him, talking excitedly.
He didn't get to ask JungMin about things until after dinner, up on the roof. JungMin's actions didn't make sense. "What are you doing?"
"DongHyun thinks we need to start gardening, to start supplementing the food he can buy." He stopped and looked at HyunSung. "It's getting worse, and there's no way six of us can live on what he brings home. And people aren't going to be able to give anything to us anymore."
HyunSung frowned at him. "What?"
JungMin sat down. "He knows who we are."
HyunSung had not expected that. At all. Ever. "He what?"
"He knows who we are."
"How?"
"I think he recognized me. And I told him about you, because… he asked if you knew who I was."
HyunSung sat down, hard. "He figured it out?" he asked.
"Yes," JungMin said.
"And didn't kick you out?"
"Why would he have done that?" JungMin asked. "We spent as much as anyone else trying to make this work, working against everything he's trying to do to us."
"I don't know, because you're… you?"
JungMin laughed. "You make it sound like a curse word," he said, and then sobered and sat down. "I know," he said, before HyunSung could open his mouth. "It is, to most people. But DongHyun's not like them, thankfully, because if he were, we'd be in so much trouble we'd never get out of it." He rubbed his face. "He knows to keep it quiet, too," he added. "But I wish… I wish I could do something, being just me. There's just nothing I could do. As far as I know, he isn't even looking for me."
"I wouldn't go that far," HyunSung said. "He might have finally realized that if people know who you are, it could get dangerous for you."
JungMin laughed. HyunSung didn't know how to categorize it, a bit of despair, hysteria, and disbelief (maybe?) all rolled up in one. "You think he'd care about that?" he asked after a moment. "Really?"
"Just because he wouldn't listen to you doesn't mean he doesn't care," HyunSung said.
"I don't care how he feels," JungMin said, bitterness he usually hid dripping from his words. "I don't care. He wants to leave me a country with so many problems it'll never recover, and I don't want it. And what's worse," he added, hands clenched together so tightly they had to hurt, "I know now what will happen if I stop it. It might be too late for the rest of the children, I don't know that it's not too late for KwangMin. I don't know what to do, I don't know how to help, I probably can't which doesn't help at all, and I don't know what to DO."
"There might not be anything you can do," HyunSung said.
JungMin slumped. "That hurts the most," he admitted. "That even though I want to, there is nothing I can do."
HyunSung patted his shoulder, but said nothing else.
DongHyun filed the bills he'd just paid and braced his head in his hands, elbows resting on the table. He couldn't do this much longer, not and keep someone from finding out about it all. Someone who mattered, someone who had the authority to come in here and take them all away. Only he would face death, and maybe HyunSung, but the three youngest…. He sighed and tried not to think about it, about their decision, about… anything but what he might do to keep them all going, in their bodies, and not in those barracks KwangMin and YoungMin had described, so drugged they couldn't think. Couldn't be, wouldn't be them, and he didn't think JungMin would be any better, either, even if he were this idiot leader's son.
They didn't have anywhere else to go, he knew that just as well. Nowhere to go, no way to live, nothing to do but…. He shook his head. "Lives of quiet desperation," he muttered.
"What?"
DongHyun looked up and smiled. "Half a quote I heard somewhere in school," he said. "Something about men living lives of quiet desperation."
HyunSung sat down and set out a deck of cards on the table. "Game?"
DongHyun barely managed not to laugh. "Sure," he said. "Anything to keep my mind off last night's conversation."
HyunSung didn't look at him as he cut the deck and began to deal. "JungMin said you talked to him."
"Yes," DongHyun said. "I won't tell anyone, that'd be stupid."
HyunSung kept his attention on the cards. "Why?"
"What would it help? It'd get us out of here faster, would just… break us up and break us and it's no good reason. He's not the reason all of this is happening."
Prompt: 17 - cards, DongHyun/HyunSung
Pairing: Gen
Rating: G
Summary: DongHyun figures it out
Notes: Part five.
Disclaimer: Not mine, not true
See Table here!
Series: Rescue, Safe (for Now), Much Needed Naps, Life Goes On
The conversation stayed on DongHyun's mind. Not so much the result, the idea that the three youngest would rather die, but JungMin's reaction. Something just didn't sit right. He could not get JungMin alone to talk to him. HyunSung took it upon himself to get between DongHyun and JungMin, and he did it well.
It didn't make him feel any better.
He took his day off to go shopping and pick up things they needed, and saw that things would get even worse soon. It would start getting harder to live, and they needed to start supplementing their food source. The people they relied on now wouldn't be able to help much longer. He wouldn't be able to get much more for very long, just because they'd start cracking down, start paying attention on how much he tried to buy.
It didn't make his day any brighter.
When he got back to the apartment, he came in to find JungMin at the table, sitting so still he looked almost like a statue instead of a person. He frowned, almost asking where everyone was.
It hit him, something he vaguely remembered from the first chaotic days, and he had to tighten his hold on his bags so he didn't drop them. He didn't know how HyunSung fit in, yet, but he would. "Can I get some help?" he finally said.
JungMin started. "Oh, sure," he said, and got to his feet. He took a couple of the bags from DongHyun and led the way into the kitchen.
"Do you know anything about gardening?" DongHyun asked as they put things away.
"No," JungMin said.
"Does HyunSung?"
"Not that I know of," JungMin said with a glance in his direction.
"Does he know?" DongHyun asked a while later.
"Know?"
"Who you are."
JungMin went still. "Who I am?"
"Mr. Lee's son."
After a moment, JungMin sighed. "Yes. He… is my bodyguard and opted to go with me when I… decided to leave home."
"Which is why he's trying to keep you away from everyone else."
"He's afraid," JungMin said.
"I suppose he has a good reason to be," DongHyun said. "It wouldn't take much for people to turn on you, once they knew who you were."
"You won't?"
"If you agreed, you wouldn't be here."
"If I thought I could have changed something, I wouldn't be here. I couldn't. I tried, I did everything I could think of to get him to stop, to do something else, and…." He sighed. "I couldn't get him to stop. I just… couldn't."
DongHyun patted his shoulder. "I know," he said. "Or you wouldn't be here at all."
JungMin laughed softly. "But it's going to get worse," he said.
"It is worse," DongHyun said. "I don't know how long we're going to be able to keep this up." He closed a cupboard door. "That's why I hope one of the others knows something about gardening. Otherwise, the soldiers won't have to find us. We'll all starve."
"Yeah," JungMin said. "I don't know how to stop that, either."
"Don't worry about it," DongHyun said. "Maybe something will happen."
"Something will happen," JungMin said. "I just hope it's something good."
DongHyun laughed. "Yes," he said. "Something good."
HyunSung knew something had changed as soon as he walked inside. He didn't have a chance to ask, though, because KwangMin, YoungMin, and Minwoo came in just behind him, talking excitedly.
He didn't get to ask JungMin about things until after dinner, up on the roof. JungMin's actions didn't make sense. "What are you doing?"
"DongHyun thinks we need to start gardening, to start supplementing the food he can buy." He stopped and looked at HyunSung. "It's getting worse, and there's no way six of us can live on what he brings home. And people aren't going to be able to give anything to us anymore."
HyunSung frowned at him. "What?"
JungMin sat down. "He knows who we are."
HyunSung had not expected that. At all. Ever. "He what?"
"He knows who we are."
"How?"
"I think he recognized me. And I told him about you, because… he asked if you knew who I was."
HyunSung sat down, hard. "He figured it out?" he asked.
"Yes," JungMin said.
"And didn't kick you out?"
"Why would he have done that?" JungMin asked. "We spent as much as anyone else trying to make this work, working against everything he's trying to do to us."
"I don't know, because you're… you?"
JungMin laughed. "You make it sound like a curse word," he said, and then sobered and sat down. "I know," he said, before HyunSung could open his mouth. "It is, to most people. But DongHyun's not like them, thankfully, because if he were, we'd be in so much trouble we'd never get out of it." He rubbed his face. "He knows to keep it quiet, too," he added. "But I wish… I wish I could do something, being just me. There's just nothing I could do. As far as I know, he isn't even looking for me."
"I wouldn't go that far," HyunSung said. "He might have finally realized that if people know who you are, it could get dangerous for you."
JungMin laughed. HyunSung didn't know how to categorize it, a bit of despair, hysteria, and disbelief (maybe?) all rolled up in one. "You think he'd care about that?" he asked after a moment. "Really?"
"Just because he wouldn't listen to you doesn't mean he doesn't care," HyunSung said.
"I don't care how he feels," JungMin said, bitterness he usually hid dripping from his words. "I don't care. He wants to leave me a country with so many problems it'll never recover, and I don't want it. And what's worse," he added, hands clenched together so tightly they had to hurt, "I know now what will happen if I stop it. It might be too late for the rest of the children, I don't know that it's not too late for KwangMin. I don't know what to do, I don't know how to help, I probably can't which doesn't help at all, and I don't know what to DO."
"There might not be anything you can do," HyunSung said.
JungMin slumped. "That hurts the most," he admitted. "That even though I want to, there is nothing I can do."
HyunSung patted his shoulder, but said nothing else.
DongHyun filed the bills he'd just paid and braced his head in his hands, elbows resting on the table. He couldn't do this much longer, not and keep someone from finding out about it all. Someone who mattered, someone who had the authority to come in here and take them all away. Only he would face death, and maybe HyunSung, but the three youngest…. He sighed and tried not to think about it, about their decision, about… anything but what he might do to keep them all going, in their bodies, and not in those barracks KwangMin and YoungMin had described, so drugged they couldn't think. Couldn't be, wouldn't be them, and he didn't think JungMin would be any better, either, even if he were this idiot leader's son.
They didn't have anywhere else to go, he knew that just as well. Nowhere to go, no way to live, nothing to do but…. He shook his head. "Lives of quiet desperation," he muttered.
"What?"
DongHyun looked up and smiled. "Half a quote I heard somewhere in school," he said. "Something about men living lives of quiet desperation."
HyunSung sat down and set out a deck of cards on the table. "Game?"
DongHyun barely managed not to laugh. "Sure," he said. "Anything to keep my mind off last night's conversation."
HyunSung didn't look at him as he cut the deck and began to deal. "JungMin said you talked to him."
"Yes," DongHyun said. "I won't tell anyone, that'd be stupid."
HyunSung kept his attention on the cards. "Why?"
"What would it help? It'd get us out of here faster, would just… break us up and break us and it's no good reason. He's not the reason all of this is happening."