Lost Boys [7/?]
Title: Lost Boys
Character: Changmin-centric, but everyone's going to appear in it.
Length: 7/?
Rating/Genre: PG in general; it's AU haha.
Summary: The first blow hits him in the gut, and he falls to the black pavement, his head spinning and his breath caught somewhere between his throat and his stomach.
A/N: This fic is going every which way now, which is NOT GOOD. Originally, I'd already written down all of the chapters, but when I read through them again, they seemed too rushed. Hence this one. This was supposed to be a bonus chapter (something like a 'deleted scene' from a DVD) but I'm posting it as a main one and see what I can make of it from there. Guh. Enjoy!
--
Seven
He’s alone when it happens.
The city is swathed in grey and he’s making his way through the damp alleyways leading back to the apartment at a quickened pace from an errand, his heart racing and his hands cold, when he encounters a scuffle in the shadows. Two men have pinned one to a wall, and Changmin’s first instinct is to run in the hopes that they won’t notice him (at the same time wishing either Yoochun or Junsu were there to help him, to tell him what to do), but the voice that rings out in the cold, dead afternoon is enough to cement him in his tracks.
“I’ll pay you back! Just not today!” Jaejoong shouts in a voice that plasters Changmin’s tongue to the roof of his mouth.
“So you DO admit it, eh, Kim? Tsk tsk, stealing isn’t something we take lightly.” A man taller than Jaejoong and bigger than Changmin has his face half-hidden in the shadows.
“I’ll pay it back, I swear to God.” Jaejoong’s voice is tinged with fear and Changmin’s heart nearly jumps up to his throat when he sees the switchblade the other man is holding glisten as it caught the light.
“NO!” he shouts, unable to stop himself. “STOP!”
His chest feels as though it’s about to burst. Jaejoong appears as he’s roughly pulled into the light by his collar. A great relief washes over Changmin when he sees he’s unharmed.
“Changmin!” Jaejoong’s eyes widen, his expression now a mixture of shock and disbelief. “What in fucking-”
“So you two boys know each other, hm? He a thief too?” The man holding Jaejoong is built like a brick wall and smells of three weeks’ worth of laundry. Changmin can’t decide whether he’s going to vomit out of disgust or fright.
“RUN, YOU LITTLE FUCK, RUN!” He hears Jaejoong yell at him, but Changmin can’t move, can’t think. The first blow hits him in the gut, and he falls to the black pavement, his head spinning and his breath caught somewhere between his throat and his stomach. He takes a brief moment to regain his senses before his eyesight sharpens once again. He feels his heart thump relentlessly against the freezing cement, his breaths coming out like dense clouds above his head. His fist curls around a clump of snow.
“You fucker! What did you do that for?” Jaejoong is still yelling. Deep barreling laughter is echoing in the narrow alley they’re standing on, but it’s cut short as Changmin jumps to his feet and hurls a handful of snow straight at his assailant’s face. The other man gets (although it hurts him to do so) the two packets of rice Junsu had asked him to buy with that week’s wages right on his nose. He’s stunned for a moment, rooted to his spot as he listens to each man howl and growl, but a firm hand takes a hold of his arm and he stumbles as Jaejoong pulls him away.
“What are you standing there for, you idiot? Run! RUN!”
“KIM!”
“RUN!”
They sprint through the passageways, take a different route from home to throw the men off their tracks. Jaejoong pulls him to a halt just when Changmin’s legs are just about to give, and they crouch down behind a dumpster, fighting to keep their hearts from thumping too loud.
“What the hell-”
“SHUT UP!” Jaejoong hisses, yanking on his coat harshly. They wait a few more moments before declaring that the men had lost them and with an almost-arrogant huff, Jaejoong gets to his feet, the glint back in his eye and a scowl on his face.
“You could have gotten us killed!” he shouts at Changmin accusingly.
“WHAT?!” Changmin feels a surge of bitterness pump up his throat. “What the hell are you talking about? ONE OF THEM HAD A KNIFE! He could have killed you had I not interfered!”
“He was only going to use it to fucking scare me, you little TWIT!” Jaejoong looks livid, his face now an odd shade of pink. “Those people own a store! They’re not going to risk losing that by fucking MURDERING someone!”
Changmin bites his lip to keep from lashing out further, but he’s unsuccessful. “How was I supposed to know that? I thought I was going to witness a fucking murder!”
“I didn’t ask for your help anyway! I told you to run, didn’t I? You were the fool who stayed! Now you’ve gone and wasted food! Damn smart you are, you little prince. Damn smart,” Jaejoong snarls, and Changmin resists the urge to hit him. This boy, this thief has no right…
“Maybe I should have left you then! He called you a thief, maybe if he killed you you’d have deserved it anyway! Pay him back? How the hell are you going to-”
He’s silenced as Jaejoong’s fist makes contact with his face and he sprawls to the ground, stunned at the sudden blow. He’s still mulling over the pain when the older boy gets a hold of the front of his coat and yanks him to his feet. Before he knows it, Changmin is pinned to the wall, his eyes staring straight at Jaejoong’s dark ones.
“If you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about I suggest you shut your face before I shut it for you,” Jaejoong says, his voice dangerously low, their faces close enough to kiss. Changmin feels his hot breath on his neck and his temper rises.
“If you aren’t a thief what are you, then? You fucking stole from me, how different can it be with everyone else?” he spits, feeling his disgust and anger at Jaejoong spilling out from a reopened wound.
“I’m no thief!” Jaejoong shakes him, making his head bang slightly onto the molding brick wall he’s pressed against. “Fuck you. Fuck YOU. I have to fight tooth and nail just to fucking survive and I’m not just going to let some goddamn child tell me who I am and who I’m not.”
There’s a look in his eyes that Changmin can’t place, one that he’s almost too afraid to ask about. His cheek is throbbing painfully, and his head is beginning to pound. Jaejoong’s knuckles have started turning white from the grip on his collar, his eyes glassy.
“I pay it all back,” he hisses. “I work fucking odd jobs and pay back every single fucking cent. Do you think I actually like doing this? You goddamn brat. You know nothing of this life. Fucking nothing.”
So Jaejoong works. The outburst hits Changmin like a ton of bricks.
“Work?” he splutters, as though hearing the word for the first time. Well, coupled with Jaejoong’s name, yes.
“Yes, work! Put salt in the snow, collect goddamn bottles, carrying fucking boxes, work! Disappointed it’s not drugs? That I’m not a goddamn gigolo? Well fuck you.” Jaejoong lets him go with a rough push. His cheeks are rosy from the cold but it doesn’t make him look any less menacing. “Unlike you, I’m no freeloader. Unlike you, I have three other people to take care of. Unlike you…” he stops, breathing heavily, eyes still locked on Changmin. Despite the cold he only has on one of Yoochun’s thin jackets over a shirt, and for a moment, Changmin feels sorry for him. He’s left all the warmer coats at home for the others, he realizes with a jolt.
“Do me a favor and don’t help me again.” Jaejoong finally says, saying the words as though he’s spitting out thorns, and without another word he walks away, his shoes making soft sloshing sounds on the graying snow that’s gathered on the road.
TBC
Character: Changmin-centric, but everyone's going to appear in it.
Length: 7/?
Rating/Genre: PG in general; it's AU haha.
Summary: The first blow hits him in the gut, and he falls to the black pavement, his head spinning and his breath caught somewhere between his throat and his stomach.
A/N: This fic is going every which way now, which is NOT GOOD. Originally, I'd already written down all of the chapters, but when I read through them again, they seemed too rushed. Hence this one. This was supposed to be a bonus chapter (something like a 'deleted scene' from a DVD) but I'm posting it as a main one and see what I can make of it from there. Guh. Enjoy!
--
Seven
He’s alone when it happens.
The city is swathed in grey and he’s making his way through the damp alleyways leading back to the apartment at a quickened pace from an errand, his heart racing and his hands cold, when he encounters a scuffle in the shadows. Two men have pinned one to a wall, and Changmin’s first instinct is to run in the hopes that they won’t notice him (at the same time wishing either Yoochun or Junsu were there to help him, to tell him what to do), but the voice that rings out in the cold, dead afternoon is enough to cement him in his tracks.
“I’ll pay you back! Just not today!” Jaejoong shouts in a voice that plasters Changmin’s tongue to the roof of his mouth.
“So you DO admit it, eh, Kim? Tsk tsk, stealing isn’t something we take lightly.” A man taller than Jaejoong and bigger than Changmin has his face half-hidden in the shadows.
“I’ll pay it back, I swear to God.” Jaejoong’s voice is tinged with fear and Changmin’s heart nearly jumps up to his throat when he sees the switchblade the other man is holding glisten as it caught the light.
“NO!” he shouts, unable to stop himself. “STOP!”
His chest feels as though it’s about to burst. Jaejoong appears as he’s roughly pulled into the light by his collar. A great relief washes over Changmin when he sees he’s unharmed.
“Changmin!” Jaejoong’s eyes widen, his expression now a mixture of shock and disbelief. “What in fucking-”
“So you two boys know each other, hm? He a thief too?” The man holding Jaejoong is built like a brick wall and smells of three weeks’ worth of laundry. Changmin can’t decide whether he’s going to vomit out of disgust or fright.
“RUN, YOU LITTLE FUCK, RUN!” He hears Jaejoong yell at him, but Changmin can’t move, can’t think. The first blow hits him in the gut, and he falls to the black pavement, his head spinning and his breath caught somewhere between his throat and his stomach. He takes a brief moment to regain his senses before his eyesight sharpens once again. He feels his heart thump relentlessly against the freezing cement, his breaths coming out like dense clouds above his head. His fist curls around a clump of snow.
“You fucker! What did you do that for?” Jaejoong is still yelling. Deep barreling laughter is echoing in the narrow alley they’re standing on, but it’s cut short as Changmin jumps to his feet and hurls a handful of snow straight at his assailant’s face. The other man gets (although it hurts him to do so) the two packets of rice Junsu had asked him to buy with that week’s wages right on his nose. He’s stunned for a moment, rooted to his spot as he listens to each man howl and growl, but a firm hand takes a hold of his arm and he stumbles as Jaejoong pulls him away.
“What are you standing there for, you idiot? Run! RUN!”
“KIM!”
“RUN!”
They sprint through the passageways, take a different route from home to throw the men off their tracks. Jaejoong pulls him to a halt just when Changmin’s legs are just about to give, and they crouch down behind a dumpster, fighting to keep their hearts from thumping too loud.
“What the hell-”
“SHUT UP!” Jaejoong hisses, yanking on his coat harshly. They wait a few more moments before declaring that the men had lost them and with an almost-arrogant huff, Jaejoong gets to his feet, the glint back in his eye and a scowl on his face.
“You could have gotten us killed!” he shouts at Changmin accusingly.
“WHAT?!” Changmin feels a surge of bitterness pump up his throat. “What the hell are you talking about? ONE OF THEM HAD A KNIFE! He could have killed you had I not interfered!”
“He was only going to use it to fucking scare me, you little TWIT!” Jaejoong looks livid, his face now an odd shade of pink. “Those people own a store! They’re not going to risk losing that by fucking MURDERING someone!”
Changmin bites his lip to keep from lashing out further, but he’s unsuccessful. “How was I supposed to know that? I thought I was going to witness a fucking murder!”
“I didn’t ask for your help anyway! I told you to run, didn’t I? You were the fool who stayed! Now you’ve gone and wasted food! Damn smart you are, you little prince. Damn smart,” Jaejoong snarls, and Changmin resists the urge to hit him. This boy, this thief has no right…
“Maybe I should have left you then! He called you a thief, maybe if he killed you you’d have deserved it anyway! Pay him back? How the hell are you going to-”
He’s silenced as Jaejoong’s fist makes contact with his face and he sprawls to the ground, stunned at the sudden blow. He’s still mulling over the pain when the older boy gets a hold of the front of his coat and yanks him to his feet. Before he knows it, Changmin is pinned to the wall, his eyes staring straight at Jaejoong’s dark ones.
“If you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about I suggest you shut your face before I shut it for you,” Jaejoong says, his voice dangerously low, their faces close enough to kiss. Changmin feels his hot breath on his neck and his temper rises.
“If you aren’t a thief what are you, then? You fucking stole from me, how different can it be with everyone else?” he spits, feeling his disgust and anger at Jaejoong spilling out from a reopened wound.
“I’m no thief!” Jaejoong shakes him, making his head bang slightly onto the molding brick wall he’s pressed against. “Fuck you. Fuck YOU. I have to fight tooth and nail just to fucking survive and I’m not just going to let some goddamn child tell me who I am and who I’m not.”
There’s a look in his eyes that Changmin can’t place, one that he’s almost too afraid to ask about. His cheek is throbbing painfully, and his head is beginning to pound. Jaejoong’s knuckles have started turning white from the grip on his collar, his eyes glassy.
“I pay it all back,” he hisses. “I work fucking odd jobs and pay back every single fucking cent. Do you think I actually like doing this? You goddamn brat. You know nothing of this life. Fucking nothing.”
So Jaejoong works. The outburst hits Changmin like a ton of bricks.
“Work?” he splutters, as though hearing the word for the first time. Well, coupled with Jaejoong’s name, yes.
“Yes, work! Put salt in the snow, collect goddamn bottles, carrying fucking boxes, work! Disappointed it’s not drugs? That I’m not a goddamn gigolo? Well fuck you.” Jaejoong lets him go with a rough push. His cheeks are rosy from the cold but it doesn’t make him look any less menacing. “Unlike you, I’m no freeloader. Unlike you, I have three other people to take care of. Unlike you…” he stops, breathing heavily, eyes still locked on Changmin. Despite the cold he only has on one of Yoochun’s thin jackets over a shirt, and for a moment, Changmin feels sorry for him. He’s left all the warmer coats at home for the others, he realizes with a jolt.
“Do me a favor and don’t help me again.” Jaejoong finally says, saying the words as though he’s spitting out thorns, and without another word he walks away, his shoes making soft sloshing sounds on the graying snow that’s gathered on the road.
TBC