Lost Boys [4/?]
Title: Lost Boys
Character: Changmin-centric, but everyone's going to appear in it.
Length: 4/?
Rating/Genre: PG in general; it's AU haha.
Summary: “You don’t look like you’re from here.”
A/N: I didn't like this chapter but it had to be written. :s Mianhae.
---
Four
“YOU!”
There’s a flailing of arms and legs and a scuffle as Yoochun struggles to restrain him. Several times.
“YOU STOLE MY CAMERA! I WANT IT BACK!”
“Changmin! Hyung, have you actually met before?? What camera??”
“Yoochun, couldn’t you have brought home something more normal and that requires less maintenance? A bird perhaps? Or a worm?”
“GIVE IT BACK! GIVE MY CAMERA BACK! You THIEF! YOU’D BETTER NOT HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO IT…”
“Did you steal it from him, hyung? Is he telling the truth?”
“…I’M GOING TO KILL YOU IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO THAT…”
“What in fuck’s sake is he doing here anyway??”
“…CAMERA, DON’T THINK I WON’T…”
“I wasn’t the one who brought him here, it was Jun-”
“EVERYBODY JUST FUCKING SHUT UP.”
The new voice pierces through the commotion like a steel blade and a quick, tense silence falls before all three of them turn. Yunho stares angrily back at them, a murderous look set on his gray-tinged face. Without hesitation he stands, a hand clutching his stomach, and limps towards them. Despite him being ill, he possesses an air that is enough to quell for the meantime even Changmin’s anger at Jaejoong, and as he approaches Changmin feels a rush of fear tingle through to his fingers.
“Will somebody tell me just what the fuck everyone is yelling about?” His dark eyes move from Jaejoong to Yoochun before they finally fall on Changmin, and they narrow (with annoyance? Anger? Suspicion?). “And who the hell are you?”
Changmin feels as though his mouth has been glued shut; Yunho’s stare is enough to make him wither. Words he was about to throw at Jaejoong die in his throat and he merely blinks back at the older man.
“Hyung, this is Changmin, Junsu’s friend. He…he was the one who helped pay for the food last time.” Yoochun’s voice holds a slight tremble. Perhaps Yunho has that effect on everyone. “He and Jaejoong hyung have apparently also met before-”
BANG!
A burst of cold air whooshes into the room they’re standing in and they turn to see Junsu entering, his cheeks red from the cold and his arm clutching onto a brown paper bag. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees the four of them there, and the smile he was wearing when he first came in slides from his face like water from a newly waxed car. Despite it, Changmin feels a tinge of relief upon seeing Junsu’s face. For some reason he wants to go over to Junsu and hug (or perhaps hide behind) him.
“Changmin! You’re awake! And Yunho hyung! Are both of you feeling better?” He gazes from one person to the next warily. “…Am I interrupting something here?”
“Perfect timing, as always,” Changmin hears Jaejoong note dryly.
“You know this boy?” Changmin finds a finger pointing at his face. Yunho’s.
“Yes…it’s a long story, hyung.” Junsu scratches his head, making him look like a child who knows he’s about to be scolded.
“All right, all long stories end here. Everyone spill now.” Yunho’s tone is stern, almost demanding. He crosses his arms over his chest and glances at each face. The torch is given to Junsu first (following a quick glower from Yunho) and Changmin listens as he carefully recounts the tale of them meeting in the train station and then the quick mention of the favor owed, followed by the events from the other day (“I saw you running. You looked scared half to death. Scared or maybe you’re just not used to running. Either way, you collapsed so I brought you here”). Yoochun shrugs nonchalantly as everyone turns to him.
“I’m just here to help follow through with the favor,” he says, one hand rubbing his nape. Jaejoong raises an eyebrow when it’s his turn to speak, as though wanting to deny any involvement.
“I have no idea what this boy is accusing-”
“Jaejoong.”
“All right, all right. I stole his camera the other day. It was a Canon digital SLR. Pretty little trinket.”
Changmin inwardly growls at the words and daggers are shot at Jaejoong’s direction.
“What did you do to the camera, Jae?” Yunho asks. A frown crumples Jaejoong’s fine fine features (Changmin has never seen a more feminine looking man), and his lower lip juts out just a tiny bit to form a small pout.
“I believe that’s between me and him,” comes the defiant answer and Changmin hopes that Yunho keeps pushing (because it looks to him that Yunho has the capability to wheedle out anything from any of them), but he doesn’t. Most of him still wants to throttle Jaejoong, but the feeling quickly dissipates as, much to his dismay, Yunho turns to stare at Changmin the longest.
“You don’t look like you’re from here,” The word here is said as though it has a double meaning. Changmin licks his lips slowly, knowing full well what the older man is meaning to say. “Who are you and where are you from?”
“My name…is Changmin,” his heart is racing again, but he doesn’t know if it’s solely from fear of the four men in front of him or from fear of the surfacing of the truth. “I…I ran away.”
Yunho is studying him, and Changmin almost feels as though the dark eyes are attempting to see right through to his soul in order to unearth any hidden secrets. “Now why would a nice-looking kid like you run away?”
“I’m an orphan now.” It feels even more real than what the truth is. “I have nothing left.”
“Where have you been staying?” Yunho is frowning, but it’s no longer as piercing. Under the weak fluorescent lighting, his sharp features jut out, making him look paler and thinner than he already is. Changmin can’t deny however that the man’s current coloring does nothing for how he really looks; Yunho, even in a ratty old hoodie and jeans, is as handsome a devil as much as Jaejoong resembles (although he most certainly doesn’t act accordingly) an angel.
“Underneath the Hangang bridge.”
“No fucking wonder you got sick…” He hears Yoochun mutter. Yunho inches closer to him.
“Got any plans?”
Changmin remembers the original plan, his foolproof plan, and how circumstance tore it into pieces and slapped them in his face. The thought of the whole police force of Seoul looking for him makes his heart sink to the pit of his stomach. He isn’t going to make it out of the city. Not now, at least. For now, his wings have to be clipped.
“Nowhere…sir,” he attaches the title at the end just because it feels appropriate. “I’m going to stay for the meantime, but I would have to get a move on eventually…”
“How utterly Dickensian of you…”
“Jaejoong!” Yunho snaps in a tone reminiscent of a schoolteacher, but Changmin doesn’t know if it’s because he’s honestly annoyed or it’s because he’s in pain. He notices that the hand that had been resting on the older man’s stomach is now balled up in a tight fist and ever so slightly pushing against his belly, as though massaging an ache. He wants to ask but decides against it, not wanting to be the sole recipient of one of the man’s deadly glares. Yunho turns back to Changmin, his forehead scrunched.
“You’re just a kid…Can’t be older than Su,” Yunho shakes his head. “You’re staying here…for the meantime. It’s going to be more comfortable here anyway than underneath the Hangang bridge. You’re bound to die in this weather.” His voice carries a tone of finality and from behind him, Junsu looks relieved. Jaejoong however, looks as though he’s swallowed a rat whole, his face turning several shades of red.
“Yunho you can’t possibly…You’re not SERIOUS!”
“Jae…He’s a fucking child…”
“Child NOTHING! This is our apartment so you need all of our consent. I’m not going to let him fucking stay…you don’t even fucking know who he is! Where he’s been! He probably even eats like a goddamned horse!”
“I wouldn’t have to if you’d just GIVE IT BACK.” Changmin finds himself yelling in his defense. (He doesn’t want to stay in this dirty box of an apartment filled with strangers, one of which had stolen his camera, despite his common sense telling him that, with the weather and the entire police force on full alert for any sighting of him, it’s actually better).
“And what if I don’t? You poor little rich-”
Jaejoong has grabbed the collar of his shirt with enough force to make Changmin stumble forward. There’s an audible rriiippp as Yunho grabs his shoulder and hauls him back. (“What the fuck, Jae? Be reasonable!”). There’s a violent push (Jaejoong) that Changmin supposes was meant for him, but it’s someone else who stumbles backward, someone else who lands with a painful thump on the floor. It happens too fast, yet too slow. When Changmin opens his eyes again, it’s Yunho lying on his side on the floor, visibly trembling, and Jaejoong who is standing beside him, fists still curled, a horrified look on his face.
Yunho doesn’t get up. Instead, he clutches at his stomach and coughs. Something spills from his mouth, creating a mess that sticks to his clothes, his hair. “Shit…” is the last thing he says before he shudders and goes completely still. Changmin feels the strength leave his knees and he drops to the floor as everything suddenly moves at warp speed around him.
“HYUNG!”
“Fuck! Yunho!”
There’s an uproar. Yoochun has gotten to Yunho first and is hugging him from behind (“Yah, hyung! Open your eyes!”). Junsu has dashed off to get a glass of water. Jaejoong is on his knees, yelling at everyone (“Junsu, hurry up! Yunho! YUNHO! You bastard, I TOLD you to eat, you hardheaded son of a bitch. I’m sorry for yelling! I’m sorry!”), but his voice is shaking terribly, the calm smug façade gone, his face suddenly wet. Yunho’s body jerks as he wakes up, but it immediately curls up in a fetal position, still trembling, his hands white as they clutch Yoochun’s sweater, his eyes squeezed shut, and his mouth open as he dry heaves and coughs over and over and over. No one remembers that Changmin is still there.
This man is dying.
Changmin is horrified, petrified. He wants to run to escape the scene, but he stays glued to the floor. A cold feeling washes over him and his throat feels as though it’s closed up.
He’s fucking dying before my eyes. Like she did.
And before he can help it, his mouth opens and the contents of his stomach spill out onto the floorboards.
TBC
Character: Changmin-centric, but everyone's going to appear in it.
Length: 4/?
Rating/Genre: PG in general; it's AU haha.
Summary: “You don’t look like you’re from here.”
A/N: I didn't like this chapter but it had to be written. :s Mianhae.
---
Four
“YOU!”
There’s a flailing of arms and legs and a scuffle as Yoochun struggles to restrain him. Several times.
“YOU STOLE MY CAMERA! I WANT IT BACK!”
“Changmin! Hyung, have you actually met before?? What camera??”
“Yoochun, couldn’t you have brought home something more normal and that requires less maintenance? A bird perhaps? Or a worm?”
“GIVE IT BACK! GIVE MY CAMERA BACK! You THIEF! YOU’D BETTER NOT HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO IT…”
“Did you steal it from him, hyung? Is he telling the truth?”
“…I’M GOING TO KILL YOU IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO THAT…”
“What in fuck’s sake is he doing here anyway??”
“…CAMERA, DON’T THINK I WON’T…”
“I wasn’t the one who brought him here, it was Jun-”
“EVERYBODY JUST FUCKING SHUT UP.”
The new voice pierces through the commotion like a steel blade and a quick, tense silence falls before all three of them turn. Yunho stares angrily back at them, a murderous look set on his gray-tinged face. Without hesitation he stands, a hand clutching his stomach, and limps towards them. Despite him being ill, he possesses an air that is enough to quell for the meantime even Changmin’s anger at Jaejoong, and as he approaches Changmin feels a rush of fear tingle through to his fingers.
“Will somebody tell me just what the fuck everyone is yelling about?” His dark eyes move from Jaejoong to Yoochun before they finally fall on Changmin, and they narrow (with annoyance? Anger? Suspicion?). “And who the hell are you?”
Changmin feels as though his mouth has been glued shut; Yunho’s stare is enough to make him wither. Words he was about to throw at Jaejoong die in his throat and he merely blinks back at the older man.
“Hyung, this is Changmin, Junsu’s friend. He…he was the one who helped pay for the food last time.” Yoochun’s voice holds a slight tremble. Perhaps Yunho has that effect on everyone. “He and Jaejoong hyung have apparently also met before-”
BANG!
A burst of cold air whooshes into the room they’re standing in and they turn to see Junsu entering, his cheeks red from the cold and his arm clutching onto a brown paper bag. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees the four of them there, and the smile he was wearing when he first came in slides from his face like water from a newly waxed car. Despite it, Changmin feels a tinge of relief upon seeing Junsu’s face. For some reason he wants to go over to Junsu and hug (or perhaps hide behind) him.
“Changmin! You’re awake! And Yunho hyung! Are both of you feeling better?” He gazes from one person to the next warily. “…Am I interrupting something here?”
“Perfect timing, as always,” Changmin hears Jaejoong note dryly.
“You know this boy?” Changmin finds a finger pointing at his face. Yunho’s.
“Yes…it’s a long story, hyung.” Junsu scratches his head, making him look like a child who knows he’s about to be scolded.
“All right, all long stories end here. Everyone spill now.” Yunho’s tone is stern, almost demanding. He crosses his arms over his chest and glances at each face. The torch is given to Junsu first (following a quick glower from Yunho) and Changmin listens as he carefully recounts the tale of them meeting in the train station and then the quick mention of the favor owed, followed by the events from the other day (“I saw you running. You looked scared half to death. Scared or maybe you’re just not used to running. Either way, you collapsed so I brought you here”). Yoochun shrugs nonchalantly as everyone turns to him.
“I’m just here to help follow through with the favor,” he says, one hand rubbing his nape. Jaejoong raises an eyebrow when it’s his turn to speak, as though wanting to deny any involvement.
“I have no idea what this boy is accusing-”
“Jaejoong.”
“All right, all right. I stole his camera the other day. It was a Canon digital SLR. Pretty little trinket.”
Changmin inwardly growls at the words and daggers are shot at Jaejoong’s direction.
“What did you do to the camera, Jae?” Yunho asks. A frown crumples Jaejoong’s fine fine features (Changmin has never seen a more feminine looking man), and his lower lip juts out just a tiny bit to form a small pout.
“I believe that’s between me and him,” comes the defiant answer and Changmin hopes that Yunho keeps pushing (because it looks to him that Yunho has the capability to wheedle out anything from any of them), but he doesn’t. Most of him still wants to throttle Jaejoong, but the feeling quickly dissipates as, much to his dismay, Yunho turns to stare at Changmin the longest.
“You don’t look like you’re from here,” The word here is said as though it has a double meaning. Changmin licks his lips slowly, knowing full well what the older man is meaning to say. “Who are you and where are you from?”
“My name…is Changmin,” his heart is racing again, but he doesn’t know if it’s solely from fear of the four men in front of him or from fear of the surfacing of the truth. “I…I ran away.”
Yunho is studying him, and Changmin almost feels as though the dark eyes are attempting to see right through to his soul in order to unearth any hidden secrets. “Now why would a nice-looking kid like you run away?”
“I’m an orphan now.” It feels even more real than what the truth is. “I have nothing left.”
“Where have you been staying?” Yunho is frowning, but it’s no longer as piercing. Under the weak fluorescent lighting, his sharp features jut out, making him look paler and thinner than he already is. Changmin can’t deny however that the man’s current coloring does nothing for how he really looks; Yunho, even in a ratty old hoodie and jeans, is as handsome a devil as much as Jaejoong resembles (although he most certainly doesn’t act accordingly) an angel.
“Underneath the Hangang bridge.”
“No fucking wonder you got sick…” He hears Yoochun mutter. Yunho inches closer to him.
“Got any plans?”
Changmin remembers the original plan, his foolproof plan, and how circumstance tore it into pieces and slapped them in his face. The thought of the whole police force of Seoul looking for him makes his heart sink to the pit of his stomach. He isn’t going to make it out of the city. Not now, at least. For now, his wings have to be clipped.
“Nowhere…sir,” he attaches the title at the end just because it feels appropriate. “I’m going to stay for the meantime, but I would have to get a move on eventually…”
“How utterly Dickensian of you…”
“Jaejoong!” Yunho snaps in a tone reminiscent of a schoolteacher, but Changmin doesn’t know if it’s because he’s honestly annoyed or it’s because he’s in pain. He notices that the hand that had been resting on the older man’s stomach is now balled up in a tight fist and ever so slightly pushing against his belly, as though massaging an ache. He wants to ask but decides against it, not wanting to be the sole recipient of one of the man’s deadly glares. Yunho turns back to Changmin, his forehead scrunched.
“You’re just a kid…Can’t be older than Su,” Yunho shakes his head. “You’re staying here…for the meantime. It’s going to be more comfortable here anyway than underneath the Hangang bridge. You’re bound to die in this weather.” His voice carries a tone of finality and from behind him, Junsu looks relieved. Jaejoong however, looks as though he’s swallowed a rat whole, his face turning several shades of red.
“Yunho you can’t possibly…You’re not SERIOUS!”
“Jae…He’s a fucking child…”
“Child NOTHING! This is our apartment so you need all of our consent. I’m not going to let him fucking stay…you don’t even fucking know who he is! Where he’s been! He probably even eats like a goddamned horse!”
“I wouldn’t have to if you’d just GIVE IT BACK.” Changmin finds himself yelling in his defense. (He doesn’t want to stay in this dirty box of an apartment filled with strangers, one of which had stolen his camera, despite his common sense telling him that, with the weather and the entire police force on full alert for any sighting of him, it’s actually better).
“And what if I don’t? You poor little rich-”
Jaejoong has grabbed the collar of his shirt with enough force to make Changmin stumble forward. There’s an audible rriiippp as Yunho grabs his shoulder and hauls him back. (“What the fuck, Jae? Be reasonable!”). There’s a violent push (Jaejoong) that Changmin supposes was meant for him, but it’s someone else who stumbles backward, someone else who lands with a painful thump on the floor. It happens too fast, yet too slow. When Changmin opens his eyes again, it’s Yunho lying on his side on the floor, visibly trembling, and Jaejoong who is standing beside him, fists still curled, a horrified look on his face.
Yunho doesn’t get up. Instead, he clutches at his stomach and coughs. Something spills from his mouth, creating a mess that sticks to his clothes, his hair. “Shit…” is the last thing he says before he shudders and goes completely still. Changmin feels the strength leave his knees and he drops to the floor as everything suddenly moves at warp speed around him.
“HYUNG!”
“Fuck! Yunho!”
There’s an uproar. Yoochun has gotten to Yunho first and is hugging him from behind (“Yah, hyung! Open your eyes!”). Junsu has dashed off to get a glass of water. Jaejoong is on his knees, yelling at everyone (“Junsu, hurry up! Yunho! YUNHO! You bastard, I TOLD you to eat, you hardheaded son of a bitch. I’m sorry for yelling! I’m sorry!”), but his voice is shaking terribly, the calm smug façade gone, his face suddenly wet. Yunho’s body jerks as he wakes up, but it immediately curls up in a fetal position, still trembling, his hands white as they clutch Yoochun’s sweater, his eyes squeezed shut, and his mouth open as he dry heaves and coughs over and over and over. No one remembers that Changmin is still there.
This man is dying.
Changmin is horrified, petrified. He wants to run to escape the scene, but he stays glued to the floor. A cold feeling washes over him and his throat feels as though it’s closed up.
He’s fucking dying before my eyes. Like she did.
And before he can help it, his mouth opens and the contents of his stomach spill out onto the floorboards.
TBC