[Fanfic] Of Kyuhyun and Hyukjae (2/2)
Title: Of Kyuhyun and Hyukjae (2/2)
Pairing: Kyuhyuk
Rating: PG
Genre: AU, Fluff
Length: Two-shot, 2,749 words.
Summary: Kyuhyun's met a kid through his mother. He has no choice, but to babysit him.
Kyuhyun attends lessons as usual. He was half a minute earlier for homeroom - just half a minute to be exact. He sits down, dumps his bag aside, and groans with a sight of his homeroom teacher marches in. Making full use of the time, Kyuhyun spends his homeroom rushing off his homework that he needed to over the weekends. He’s able to manage, and he will be able to manage.
Break time with his usual cliques - Ryeowook, Heechul, Jongwoon, and Sungmin. Five of them sneaks onto the rooftop and had their meal together.
“Wookie’s mama is really good at cooking.” Sungmin steals a sausage from the younger’s lunchbox with his chopstick.
“I know right.” With a Sungmin-is-totally-right-expression, Heechul steals another sausage from Ryeowook’s lunchbox.
“Stop it! The both of you.” Ryeowook makes a quick scan of them with an intense glare while covering his lunchbox with his palms. “I’ll have nothing left to eat if you guys continue to snag.”
“B-but…”
“Why, at least both of your lunches are better than mine.” Kyuhyun gazes at their lunchboxes, and they stares at Kyuhyun’s lunchbox.
“Kyuhyun’s mama is really bad at cooking.” Sungmin pouts, then the other two nods with a pout too.
“Anyway, where is Jongwoon?”
“Ah - here he is.” Kyuhyun and Heechul who’s back facing the door turn back.
“Yah! What took you so long to buy a sandwich?”
“You know I was the first one who got this ultra mega ham, bacon, tuna, and egg - fantastic four sandwich. It was really hard to get and I can’t believe I could get to eat this once in my life. On the way here I saw this really cute turtle swimming inside our school pond. Listen, it can swim. It.can.swim. I stared at it for a while and one of the school attendant came. We chatted about this turtle and it seems like the school has just bought a few turtles to fill up the pond besides fishes. It’s totally cool and I introduced Ddanggies to him and he seemed interested and…” Jongwoon pauses and looks at them - eyes flat. “Yah! Are you guys listening?”
“Hurry guys, class is gonna start.” Four of them continue to gobble down their lunch and practically ignoring the turtle-freak.
Jongwoon snorts and sits in the middle of Kyuhyun and Sungmin.
“Ham, bacon, tuna, and egg…” Sungmin examines the sandwich. “You’re going to get a tummyache.” He pauses. “Probably…”
Lessons resumes fifteen minutes later. Since Kyuhyun’s class is different from the other four - Sungmin and Jongwoon are in the same class, while Heechul and Ryeowook are together, he parts with them and settles down in his seat. Classes are easier to spend, if you pay attention.
School ends and the friends meet again.
“Kyuhyun-ah,” Heechul starts while punching his cellphone’s button, seemingly typing a text message. “We’re going for a group-date with Junghwa High school now. Join us.”
“Kyuhyun-ah, it’s a girls’ school, girls’ school.” Ryeowook nudges Kyuhyun repeatedly.
“Sure…” Kyuhyun agrees with no expression. Just then, he receives a message.
From: Mum
Kyuhyun-ah, Mrs Kim invited me to a two-day party in Jeju Island and I won’t be coming home tonight. Dad will be home after ten and Ara said she will be going out an hour later. So, this imperative job that must not be neglected will be counting on you to accomplish.
Bring Hyukjae home after school.
-End-
The address is sent after the first message. Kyuhyun’s debating himself if he should laugh or groan. Why his parent does has so many activities, why does she even need to bring this matter out in such an exaggerating way, and most ridiculously, why does she need to leave such a huge space before the last and crucial sentence. God should have treated him better by giving him a much more normal-like mother.
“I think I can’t. Group-date…” Kyuhyun stuffs his phone into his pocket.
“Why, if you don’t go, we will be short of one person. And one poor girl will be left out. How could you embarrass a girl like that? Although I’d very much like to entertain two girls in one go but…” Kyuhyun stops Heechul’s blabbering with I have something on.
Kyuhyun’s not willing to spill out what’s holding him back but the four of them - mainly Heechul and Ryeowook continues to bug him and tug his uniform.
“That’s it; just find someone to replace me. Bye.” Kyuhyun waves and didn’t look back.
He could have ignored it. He could have just left with them. But the sky’s getting darker than it should. And it’s the raining season now. He’s worried.
The four of them watches Kyuhyun leaves until he’s totally disappeared from their sight. They look down for a moment, and then leer at each other as if they’re plotting something similar.
-
Kyuhyun arrives rather quickly. He approaches to one of the teachers and asks for Hyukjae. When Kyuhyun is asked to wait in the office, he heard his name - or maybe something that he’s sure of it’s him.
“Hyung-hyung!”
“What’s with the double hyungs.” He mumbles to himself.
Kyuhyun turns and stares at the approaching figure.
“Hyung-hyung!” The boy greets again with a gummy smile.
“Hyukjae…”
“Hyung-hyung!”
“Just what did you do I school for the whole day today…”
“We played soccer. And tag. And catch ball. It was fun and fun and fun~”
“………….don’t you have classes?”
“We have. We played before lesson starts, during breaks, and after school. My school ended pretty early today.” Hyukjae rubs his cheeks and smiles, once again.
“The stains on your shirt are gonna be a nuisance to the washing machine.”
“Will ahjumma gets angry?” Hyukjae’s eyes are already moist.
“She won’t. But she’ll be really noisy. It’d be better if you throw it away.”
“B-but this is the Mr. Monmon shirt that mama bought me…”
“Just kidding.” Kyuhyun fixes Hyukjae’s hair and grabs his wrist lightly. They reach the gate and Kyuhyun stops. “It’s going to rain…”
Kyuhyun slants and sees Hyukjae gulps and tightens his fist. He hides a smile with his palm and continues to move forward. Just then, Kyuhyun hears some suspicious whisperings coming out from the pavement outside.
“Yah, stop pushing…”
“I wanna seeee. Is that Kyuhyun’s son?”
“Oh my god, who’s the mother?”
“When did Kyuhyun even lose his virgin? How dare him…”
Kyuhyun coughs and shoots glares at them. They smiles awkwardly and scratches their head.
“What a coincidence. Ha…” Sungmin gulps.
“We were about to go for the group-date. Ha…” Heechul continues.
“We were just passing by. Ha…” Ryeowook rubs his nose.
“We were looking for a school for Ddanggies. Ha…”
“Idiot!” And Jongwoon got smacked in the head.
“You guys are equally creepy as my parents. Not lying.”
“So sorry.” Heads down, pouting.
“Hyung-hyung! Who are they?”
“Friends.”
“Hyung!” Heechul looks up.
“Hyung!” Sungmin continues.
“Oh my…” Jongwoon widens his eyes.
“God…” Ryeowook looks at them unbelievably.
“Nope, my mum’s not having an affair.”
Four of them relax with a sigh of relief.
“So who’s this kid?”
“Mum’s recommendation. Probably wanting to keep me entertained.”
“What, you don’t know anything about him?” Sungmin squats and examines Hyukjae.
Hyukjae smiles with his usual gummy smile and greets Sungmin.
“Awwww, adorable stuff.” The elder pinches his cheeks and does aegyo to him.
“The only thing I know is his name, his age, and he’s currently living with us.”
“He’s living with you…”
“His parents?”
“No idea.” Five of them look at Hyukjae and Hyukjae did the same.
-
“In the end…”
“Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeers!”
“C’mon Kyuhyun, it’s not like we’re bringing him to a pub or something right?” Heechul’s arm over Kyuhyun’s shoulder and pats him a couple of times. “Plus the girls seem happy with him around.”
Their eyes towards Hyukjae sitting in the middle of the girls from Junghwa High, receiving lots of squealing and squishing from them. The grown-up males are jealous - except Kyuhyun, probably in another way.
“We should really get home right now.” Kyuhyun stares out the window. “It looks like it’ll rain. Really hard.”
“We’re at indoors.” Heechul sips on his drink and eyes are still on Kyuhyun.
“That’s not - ”
Great, the thunder strikes before Kyuhyun could finish his sentence. He watches Hyukjae and notices the minor actions he’ll make. He didn’t dare to budge. The girls are scary - to him and Kyuhyun. Hyukjae looks back to Kyuhyun, tears are almost releasing. Biting his lower lip, his expression is so puppy-like that as if he’s calling ‘Hyung-hyung, I’m scared’ literally.
“Boom!” Roars the thunder. The girls are oblivious about it, and are still pestering the poor boy that’s going to cry for his mummy.
Kyuhyun stands and Heechul’s arm falls. Kyuhyun moves and Heechul shifts his sight, compromising Kyuhyun’s movement.
“Let’s go, Hyukjae.” He pulls him up and carries him with no sweat - apparently. Several pairs of eyeballs follow where they go, until they completely leave the restaurant.
They say nothing, rain’s plopping mercilessly and there is no definite statement on when the next lightning gonna strike, nor when the next thunder gonna crack. Hyukjae coils his arms around Kyuhyun’s neck and Kyuhyun holds him tightly. They are under the heavy pour, rushing towards the opposite pavement to get into the bus stop.
“Are you alright?” Kyuhyun halts until they’re fully sheltered.
Hyukjae remains silent, but he’s shivering.
“I’m sorry…”
Hyukjae flinches as the thunder makes its appearance again. Kyuhyun hears sniffles and hics, the only thing he wasn’t sure is whether if he’s crying - well, let’s not state the obvious. Kyuhyun pats his back and sings songs that are appropriate for a ten years old kid, hopefully it calms him down. At the same time, he curses himself silently that he shouldn’t have invested most of his allowance for this month on this recently launched game. If not he’d have not need to be here waiting for this bus which takes practically forever to arrive in the rain.
Kyuhyun and Hyukjae hops into the bus twenty minutes later. Still shivering, Hyukjae sniffs and grabs Kyuhyun’s collar tightly, as if his hands are glued to it for life. Kyuhyun then places him on one of the seats and sits beside him. He takes off his uniform’s coat and covers Hyukjae completely with that. He continues to sing, continues to pat, and continues to be gentle.
“Hyung-hyung…” Kyuhyun responds. “I’m not crying okay, I’m not.” He hics twice.
“Okay…” Kyuhyun brushes down his hair with his slender fingers. “You’re not.” He smiles slightly.
-
“We’re home…” Kyuhyun’s still carrying Hyukjae and he kicks the door closed after throwing his keys to the couch. Kyuhyun walks straight to the bathroom and takes off Hyukjae’s top. Hyukjae stops him halfway.
“I’ll shower myself…”
“Don’t act tough, you will black out if the thunder comes again.”
“No, I’ll do it myself.” Hyukjae throws Kyuhyun’s hands back and runs to the shower. He slides the door closed and opens it again after a few seconds. “I’ll let you do it when I get bigger.”
He slides the door again. Kyuhyun stares at his silhouette with great amusement.
“Who the hell wants to wash him when he gets bigger?” He thought.
The shower took an hour to end. Slight screams were heard but Hyukjae still refuses to let Kyuhyun in. So, he manages to wash himself clean and change into a new set of Mr. Monmon clothing.
“Hyukjae,”
“Hyung-hyung.” Sounding a little happier, he smiles at Kyuhyun and took a seat beside him on the couch.
“Say, why don’t you want to go home?”
“I have… no home.” He swings his legs. “No more home.”
Kyuhyun gazes at him silently, not budging a bit.
“I like ahjumma, I like Hyung-hyung, Ara-noona, and Ahjussi…” Hyukjae pauses. “I’ve never seen Ahjussi before but I don’t know. I like you all.”
Kyuhyun looks down to his lap.
“Am I a drag?” The boy asks, and rubs his fingers.
“Saying no would be a lie.” Kyuhyun tries to be carefully indirect, but still, it’s a ten years old he’s conversing to.
Hyukjae says nothing and starts to sniff and wail, deterring himself from crying on the other hand. Kyuhyun pats his head and whispers to him that he should go back home nicely.
“What are you doing to this kid…?” A voice comes from the back - the stairs.
“Noona!” Kyuhyun’s eyes widen a little.
Hyukjae howls and sniffs.
“Just what are you doing to Hyukkie.” She runs towards the kid and hugs him.
“I just asked him to go back home? I mean why doesn’t he go home when he has one?”
“He doesn’t have.”
Kyuhyun stays silent - probably he’s at loss of words.
“He doesn’t have.” Ara repeats. “Mum found him sitting outside an apartment on the way to Mrs. Kim’s house one day. She thought he was just merely waiting for his parents to be back but after visiting Mrs. Kim’s, he’s still sitting there patiently waiting. Apparently the family living inside the apartment isn’t his. It… was his.”
“And mum brought him back?”
“Yeah.”
“She should just report him to the police. I mean, they are able to settle this kind of things.”
“He’ll be sent to the orphanage if nobody ‘claims’ him.”
“Come on; if every family has a kid like this, our house is gonna be a real orphanage!” Kyuhyun receives two tight slaps before his sister could bring the kid up to her room. Kyuhyun laughs, laughs at his ridiculous family. He doesn’t get why.
-
As expected, besides getting two slaps from his sister, Kyuhyun also got a nice and long session with his mother in his room. His father joined too, but he didn’t say a word. It’s been two nights, and the rain just won’t leave earth alone. He’s worried.
Kyuhyun skips school the next day - looks like he’s caught flu. He approaches the dining table with his family members with a mask on.
“Serves you right.” Ara says in a monotone, without looking at her brother.
Kyuhyun ignores and grabs a sandwich, but his parent stops him with a slap in his hand.
“Bad eggs aren’t fit to eat breakfast.”
“Are you trying to starve a sick person?”
It’s the whole family’s turn to ignore Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun’s father coughs and flips the newspaper in his hands.
“Fine…” Kyuhyun turns and the house’s phone rings before he could take a step.
Kyuhyun’s mum answers and hardly speaks. But her expression fully shows how rich the content could be. Kyuhyun locks his vision on his mother and waits for her to hang up.
“What happened?” Ara asks.
“They said Hyukjae blacked out.” A thunder strikes once, and that thunder has been carved into Kyuhyun’s heart, possibly forever.
Kyuhyun runs without making a sound, or a notice. His family member watches him slamming the door shut before disappearing.
“Mum…”
“He needs to learn what sense of urgency is.” The father sighs.
“Right, in his life of seventeen years, he has been living in his way, way too much. Too relying in his own pace, doesn’t care about his surroundings at all.”
-
Kyuhyun arrives in Hyukjae’s school in less than half an hour. Kyuhyun’s so anxious that even the teacher’s surprised. He rushes to the infirmary and watches Hyukjae trembling under the sheets of blanket. He has several layers over him.
“He came back to conscious a while ago; we’ve never seen him feeling this intimidated before.”
“It’s okay, I’ll stay with him.” Kyuhyun assures the teacher and makes her leave. He closes the door and sits on the bed.
“Hyukjae…”
Nothing’s said.
“Hyukjae…”
Still silence.
“Hyuk - ”
“I’m a drag even in school.”
“You’re not…”
“Liar.”
“Not…”
“Hyung-hyung’s a liar. You said it’s a lie if I’m not a drag. You said it.”
“I don’t mean it that way.”
“You do.”
“…….I’m sorry.” Kyuhyun embraces the trembling.
“I’m sorry, too.”
“It’s gonna be okay…” Kyuhyun grins and continues to pat the latter.
-
“Kyuhyungggggggggg-hyunggggggggggg!”
Kyuhyun flips and covers his face with his pillow.
“Hyunggggggggg-hyungggggggggggggggggg. Wakeeeeeeeeeee up. We’re going to the beachhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
Kyuhyun groans and flips once more.
“Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeach!” Kyuhyun sits up and stares at the kid. “Beach!” Hyukjae gummy-smiles at him and Kyuhyun accepts his request for forgiveness.
“You’re gonna be naked - or at least, half naked.”
“Ahjumma said I’m a boy.”
“But yours isn’t big enough…” Kyuhyun snorts a laugh and drags his feet to the bathroom, leaving a confused boy alone sitting on his, I mean, their bed.
Pairing: Kyuhyuk
Rating: PG
Genre: AU, Fluff
Length: Two-shot, 2,749 words.
Summary: Kyuhyun's met a kid through his mother. He has no choice, but to babysit him.
Kyuhyun attends lessons as usual. He was half a minute earlier for homeroom - just half a minute to be exact. He sits down, dumps his bag aside, and groans with a sight of his homeroom teacher marches in. Making full use of the time, Kyuhyun spends his homeroom rushing off his homework that he needed to over the weekends. He’s able to manage, and he will be able to manage.
Break time with his usual cliques - Ryeowook, Heechul, Jongwoon, and Sungmin. Five of them sneaks onto the rooftop and had their meal together.
“Wookie’s mama is really good at cooking.” Sungmin steals a sausage from the younger’s lunchbox with his chopstick.
“I know right.” With a Sungmin-is-totally-right-expression, Heechul steals another sausage from Ryeowook’s lunchbox.
“Stop it! The both of you.” Ryeowook makes a quick scan of them with an intense glare while covering his lunchbox with his palms. “I’ll have nothing left to eat if you guys continue to snag.”
“B-but…”
“Why, at least both of your lunches are better than mine.” Kyuhyun gazes at their lunchboxes, and they stares at Kyuhyun’s lunchbox.
“Kyuhyun’s mama is really bad at cooking.” Sungmin pouts, then the other two nods with a pout too.
“Anyway, where is Jongwoon?”
“Ah - here he is.” Kyuhyun and Heechul who’s back facing the door turn back.
“Yah! What took you so long to buy a sandwich?”
“You know I was the first one who got this ultra mega ham, bacon, tuna, and egg - fantastic four sandwich. It was really hard to get and I can’t believe I could get to eat this once in my life. On the way here I saw this really cute turtle swimming inside our school pond. Listen, it can swim. It.can.swim. I stared at it for a while and one of the school attendant came. We chatted about this turtle and it seems like the school has just bought a few turtles to fill up the pond besides fishes. It’s totally cool and I introduced Ddanggies to him and he seemed interested and…” Jongwoon pauses and looks at them - eyes flat. “Yah! Are you guys listening?”
“Hurry guys, class is gonna start.” Four of them continue to gobble down their lunch and practically ignoring the turtle-freak.
Jongwoon snorts and sits in the middle of Kyuhyun and Sungmin.
“Ham, bacon, tuna, and egg…” Sungmin examines the sandwich. “You’re going to get a tummyache.” He pauses. “Probably…”
Lessons resumes fifteen minutes later. Since Kyuhyun’s class is different from the other four - Sungmin and Jongwoon are in the same class, while Heechul and Ryeowook are together, he parts with them and settles down in his seat. Classes are easier to spend, if you pay attention.
School ends and the friends meet again.
“Kyuhyun-ah,” Heechul starts while punching his cellphone’s button, seemingly typing a text message. “We’re going for a group-date with Junghwa High school now. Join us.”
“Kyuhyun-ah, it’s a girls’ school, girls’ school.” Ryeowook nudges Kyuhyun repeatedly.
“Sure…” Kyuhyun agrees with no expression. Just then, he receives a message.
From: Mum
Kyuhyun-ah, Mrs Kim invited me to a two-day party in Jeju Island and I won’t be coming home tonight. Dad will be home after ten and Ara said she will be going out an hour later. So, this imperative job that must not be neglected will be counting on you to accomplish.
Bring Hyukjae home after school.
-End-
The address is sent after the first message. Kyuhyun’s debating himself if he should laugh or groan. Why his parent does has so many activities, why does she even need to bring this matter out in such an exaggerating way, and most ridiculously, why does she need to leave such a huge space before the last and crucial sentence. God should have treated him better by giving him a much more normal-like mother.
“I think I can’t. Group-date…” Kyuhyun stuffs his phone into his pocket.
“Why, if you don’t go, we will be short of one person. And one poor girl will be left out. How could you embarrass a girl like that? Although I’d very much like to entertain two girls in one go but…” Kyuhyun stops Heechul’s blabbering with I have something on.
Kyuhyun’s not willing to spill out what’s holding him back but the four of them - mainly Heechul and Ryeowook continues to bug him and tug his uniform.
“That’s it; just find someone to replace me. Bye.” Kyuhyun waves and didn’t look back.
He could have ignored it. He could have just left with them. But the sky’s getting darker than it should. And it’s the raining season now. He’s worried.
The four of them watches Kyuhyun leaves until he’s totally disappeared from their sight. They look down for a moment, and then leer at each other as if they’re plotting something similar.
-
Kyuhyun arrives rather quickly. He approaches to one of the teachers and asks for Hyukjae. When Kyuhyun is asked to wait in the office, he heard his name - or maybe something that he’s sure of it’s him.
“Hyung-hyung!”
“What’s with the double hyungs.” He mumbles to himself.
Kyuhyun turns and stares at the approaching figure.
“Hyung-hyung!” The boy greets again with a gummy smile.
“Hyukjae…”
“Hyung-hyung!”
“Just what did you do I school for the whole day today…”
“We played soccer. And tag. And catch ball. It was fun and fun and fun~”
“………….don’t you have classes?”
“We have. We played before lesson starts, during breaks, and after school. My school ended pretty early today.” Hyukjae rubs his cheeks and smiles, once again.
“The stains on your shirt are gonna be a nuisance to the washing machine.”
“Will ahjumma gets angry?” Hyukjae’s eyes are already moist.
“She won’t. But she’ll be really noisy. It’d be better if you throw it away.”
“B-but this is the Mr. Monmon shirt that mama bought me…”
“Just kidding.” Kyuhyun fixes Hyukjae’s hair and grabs his wrist lightly. They reach the gate and Kyuhyun stops. “It’s going to rain…”
Kyuhyun slants and sees Hyukjae gulps and tightens his fist. He hides a smile with his palm and continues to move forward. Just then, Kyuhyun hears some suspicious whisperings coming out from the pavement outside.
“Yah, stop pushing…”
“I wanna seeee. Is that Kyuhyun’s son?”
“Oh my god, who’s the mother?”
“When did Kyuhyun even lose his virgin? How dare him…”
Kyuhyun coughs and shoots glares at them. They smiles awkwardly and scratches their head.
“What a coincidence. Ha…” Sungmin gulps.
“We were about to go for the group-date. Ha…” Heechul continues.
“We were just passing by. Ha…” Ryeowook rubs his nose.
“We were looking for a school for Ddanggies. Ha…”
“Idiot!” And Jongwoon got smacked in the head.
“You guys are equally creepy as my parents. Not lying.”
“So sorry.” Heads down, pouting.
“Hyung-hyung! Who are they?”
“Friends.”
“Hyung!” Heechul looks up.
“Hyung!” Sungmin continues.
“Oh my…” Jongwoon widens his eyes.
“God…” Ryeowook looks at them unbelievably.
“Nope, my mum’s not having an affair.”
Four of them relax with a sigh of relief.
“So who’s this kid?”
“Mum’s recommendation. Probably wanting to keep me entertained.”
“What, you don’t know anything about him?” Sungmin squats and examines Hyukjae.
Hyukjae smiles with his usual gummy smile and greets Sungmin.
“Awwww, adorable stuff.” The elder pinches his cheeks and does aegyo to him.
“The only thing I know is his name, his age, and he’s currently living with us.”
“He’s living with you…”
“His parents?”
“No idea.” Five of them look at Hyukjae and Hyukjae did the same.
-
“In the end…”
“Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeers!”
“C’mon Kyuhyun, it’s not like we’re bringing him to a pub or something right?” Heechul’s arm over Kyuhyun’s shoulder and pats him a couple of times. “Plus the girls seem happy with him around.”
Their eyes towards Hyukjae sitting in the middle of the girls from Junghwa High, receiving lots of squealing and squishing from them. The grown-up males are jealous - except Kyuhyun, probably in another way.
“We should really get home right now.” Kyuhyun stares out the window. “It looks like it’ll rain. Really hard.”
“We’re at indoors.” Heechul sips on his drink and eyes are still on Kyuhyun.
“That’s not - ”
Great, the thunder strikes before Kyuhyun could finish his sentence. He watches Hyukjae and notices the minor actions he’ll make. He didn’t dare to budge. The girls are scary - to him and Kyuhyun. Hyukjae looks back to Kyuhyun, tears are almost releasing. Biting his lower lip, his expression is so puppy-like that as if he’s calling ‘Hyung-hyung, I’m scared’ literally.
“Boom!” Roars the thunder. The girls are oblivious about it, and are still pestering the poor boy that’s going to cry for his mummy.
Kyuhyun stands and Heechul’s arm falls. Kyuhyun moves and Heechul shifts his sight, compromising Kyuhyun’s movement.
“Let’s go, Hyukjae.” He pulls him up and carries him with no sweat - apparently. Several pairs of eyeballs follow where they go, until they completely leave the restaurant.
They say nothing, rain’s plopping mercilessly and there is no definite statement on when the next lightning gonna strike, nor when the next thunder gonna crack. Hyukjae coils his arms around Kyuhyun’s neck and Kyuhyun holds him tightly. They are under the heavy pour, rushing towards the opposite pavement to get into the bus stop.
“Are you alright?” Kyuhyun halts until they’re fully sheltered.
Hyukjae remains silent, but he’s shivering.
“I’m sorry…”
Hyukjae flinches as the thunder makes its appearance again. Kyuhyun hears sniffles and hics, the only thing he wasn’t sure is whether if he’s crying - well, let’s not state the obvious. Kyuhyun pats his back and sings songs that are appropriate for a ten years old kid, hopefully it calms him down. At the same time, he curses himself silently that he shouldn’t have invested most of his allowance for this month on this recently launched game. If not he’d have not need to be here waiting for this bus which takes practically forever to arrive in the rain.
Kyuhyun and Hyukjae hops into the bus twenty minutes later. Still shivering, Hyukjae sniffs and grabs Kyuhyun’s collar tightly, as if his hands are glued to it for life. Kyuhyun then places him on one of the seats and sits beside him. He takes off his uniform’s coat and covers Hyukjae completely with that. He continues to sing, continues to pat, and continues to be gentle.
“Hyung-hyung…” Kyuhyun responds. “I’m not crying okay, I’m not.” He hics twice.
“Okay…” Kyuhyun brushes down his hair with his slender fingers. “You’re not.” He smiles slightly.
-
“We’re home…” Kyuhyun’s still carrying Hyukjae and he kicks the door closed after throwing his keys to the couch. Kyuhyun walks straight to the bathroom and takes off Hyukjae’s top. Hyukjae stops him halfway.
“I’ll shower myself…”
“Don’t act tough, you will black out if the thunder comes again.”
“No, I’ll do it myself.” Hyukjae throws Kyuhyun’s hands back and runs to the shower. He slides the door closed and opens it again after a few seconds. “I’ll let you do it when I get bigger.”
He slides the door again. Kyuhyun stares at his silhouette with great amusement.
“Who the hell wants to wash him when he gets bigger?” He thought.
The shower took an hour to end. Slight screams were heard but Hyukjae still refuses to let Kyuhyun in. So, he manages to wash himself clean and change into a new set of Mr. Monmon clothing.
“Hyukjae,”
“Hyung-hyung.” Sounding a little happier, he smiles at Kyuhyun and took a seat beside him on the couch.
“Say, why don’t you want to go home?”
“I have… no home.” He swings his legs. “No more home.”
Kyuhyun gazes at him silently, not budging a bit.
“I like ahjumma, I like Hyung-hyung, Ara-noona, and Ahjussi…” Hyukjae pauses. “I’ve never seen Ahjussi before but I don’t know. I like you all.”
Kyuhyun looks down to his lap.
“Am I a drag?” The boy asks, and rubs his fingers.
“Saying no would be a lie.” Kyuhyun tries to be carefully indirect, but still, it’s a ten years old he’s conversing to.
Hyukjae says nothing and starts to sniff and wail, deterring himself from crying on the other hand. Kyuhyun pats his head and whispers to him that he should go back home nicely.
“What are you doing to this kid…?” A voice comes from the back - the stairs.
“Noona!” Kyuhyun’s eyes widen a little.
Hyukjae howls and sniffs.
“Just what are you doing to Hyukkie.” She runs towards the kid and hugs him.
“I just asked him to go back home? I mean why doesn’t he go home when he has one?”
“He doesn’t have.”
Kyuhyun stays silent - probably he’s at loss of words.
“He doesn’t have.” Ara repeats. “Mum found him sitting outside an apartment on the way to Mrs. Kim’s house one day. She thought he was just merely waiting for his parents to be back but after visiting Mrs. Kim’s, he’s still sitting there patiently waiting. Apparently the family living inside the apartment isn’t his. It… was his.”
“And mum brought him back?”
“Yeah.”
“She should just report him to the police. I mean, they are able to settle this kind of things.”
“He’ll be sent to the orphanage if nobody ‘claims’ him.”
“Come on; if every family has a kid like this, our house is gonna be a real orphanage!” Kyuhyun receives two tight slaps before his sister could bring the kid up to her room. Kyuhyun laughs, laughs at his ridiculous family. He doesn’t get why.
-
As expected, besides getting two slaps from his sister, Kyuhyun also got a nice and long session with his mother in his room. His father joined too, but he didn’t say a word. It’s been two nights, and the rain just won’t leave earth alone. He’s worried.
Kyuhyun skips school the next day - looks like he’s caught flu. He approaches the dining table with his family members with a mask on.
“Serves you right.” Ara says in a monotone, without looking at her brother.
Kyuhyun ignores and grabs a sandwich, but his parent stops him with a slap in his hand.
“Bad eggs aren’t fit to eat breakfast.”
“Are you trying to starve a sick person?”
It’s the whole family’s turn to ignore Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun’s father coughs and flips the newspaper in his hands.
“Fine…” Kyuhyun turns and the house’s phone rings before he could take a step.
Kyuhyun’s mum answers and hardly speaks. But her expression fully shows how rich the content could be. Kyuhyun locks his vision on his mother and waits for her to hang up.
“What happened?” Ara asks.
“They said Hyukjae blacked out.” A thunder strikes once, and that thunder has been carved into Kyuhyun’s heart, possibly forever.
Kyuhyun runs without making a sound, or a notice. His family member watches him slamming the door shut before disappearing.
“Mum…”
“He needs to learn what sense of urgency is.” The father sighs.
“Right, in his life of seventeen years, he has been living in his way, way too much. Too relying in his own pace, doesn’t care about his surroundings at all.”
-
Kyuhyun arrives in Hyukjae’s school in less than half an hour. Kyuhyun’s so anxious that even the teacher’s surprised. He rushes to the infirmary and watches Hyukjae trembling under the sheets of blanket. He has several layers over him.
“He came back to conscious a while ago; we’ve never seen him feeling this intimidated before.”
“It’s okay, I’ll stay with him.” Kyuhyun assures the teacher and makes her leave. He closes the door and sits on the bed.
“Hyukjae…”
Nothing’s said.
“Hyukjae…”
Still silence.
“Hyuk - ”
“I’m a drag even in school.”
“You’re not…”
“Liar.”
“Not…”
“Hyung-hyung’s a liar. You said it’s a lie if I’m not a drag. You said it.”
“I don’t mean it that way.”
“You do.”
“…….I’m sorry.” Kyuhyun embraces the trembling.
“I’m sorry, too.”
“It’s gonna be okay…” Kyuhyun grins and continues to pat the latter.
-
“Kyuhyungggggggggg-hyunggggggggggg!”
Kyuhyun flips and covers his face with his pillow.
“Hyunggggggggg-hyungggggggggggggggggg. Wakeeeeeeeeeee up. We’re going to the beachhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
Kyuhyun groans and flips once more.
“Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeach!” Kyuhyun sits up and stares at the kid. “Beach!” Hyukjae gummy-smiles at him and Kyuhyun accepts his request for forgiveness.
“You’re gonna be naked - or at least, half naked.”
“Ahjumma said I’m a boy.”
“But yours isn’t big enough…” Kyuhyun snorts a laugh and drags his feet to the bathroom, leaving a confused boy alone sitting on his, I mean, their bed.