Super Junior AU; Hanchul; The Best Days of Our Lives
Title: The Best Days of Our Lives
Chapter: 9/25
Fandom: Super Junior AU (High School)
Pairing: Hankyung/crossdressing!Heechul (main), Kangin/Eeteuk, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, bestfriends!Eunhae.
Word count: 3,496
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Coming into a strange new world can be strange enough. Unfortunately, someone’s forgotten to tell Hankyung something Very Important.
A/N: And this still isn't the end. I have a ridiculously overactive mind. But development: my fic has it!
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10
“I think,” said Hankyung to Siwon, as Heechul got up and wandered off to the toilet, “that if anyone asked me right now, I’d say that I hated you most of all.”
Siwon grinned at him. He had, quite gallantly, offered to sit by himself with everyone’s hand luggage piled up beside him. This had the effect of making the only seat available to Hankyung the one next to Heechul. Hankyung got the feeling that everyone else in the group was onto this little ploy - there had to be a reason as to why he’d been the last one on the train, and why everyone had been grinning at him as he’d walked up the aisle, and he felt that this might be that reason.
The consequence of this was that Hankyung had spent the entire journey attempting to avoid body contact with Heechul, which failed miserably when you were squashed up against someone on a seat on a moving train. Heechul also kept leaning over the table to talk to Siwon, who had sat opposite, and the two kept laughing and Hankyung didn’t particularly want to join in.
“Like I said,” said Siwon. “You’re really going to have to get over your denial.”
“What denial?” Shindong asked, leaning over the aisle to listen in.
“The denial that says that he’s not gay,” said Siwon, before Hankyung could stop him.
“Oh,” said Shindong, and leant back. “Is that all?” Hankyung gaped at him.
“Hankyung, you deny it so much that you couldn’t be anything but.” Sungmin piped up, looking very comfortable lying back against Kyuhyun’s chest (the same couldn’t be said about Kyuhyun). Hankyung gaped at him.
“But - but I’m not!” He protested loudly.
“Face it,” said Yehsung. “You’re completely in love with Heechul.
“I am not,” said Hankyung, and was aware that when he said that, he was telling the greatest lie of his life.
“This is cute,” said Kangin with a grin. “It’s like watching an eight year old insist that he doesn’t like girls, when he is secretly crushing on his babysitter.”
“I think that was just you,” said Eeteuk, giving him a weird look. “Wait,” he said, seemingly realising something. “Didn’t I baby sit you once?” Kangin shrugged and grinned.
“I take it back,” said Hankyung, staring around at them. “I hate all of you most of all.” He sat back and refused to talk for the remaining half hour of the journey, and ignored resolutely the boisterous laughter that Heechul’s return brought on.
“If I had to be perfectly honest,” whispered Hankyung to Siwon that night, when everyone else was asleep, tired out by the journey, “maybe I do still like Heechul.”
“Well that much is obvious,” said Siwon, and turned over and went to sleep.
*
There was something inherently wrong about seeing Heechul without his shirt on. In fact, it felt wrong to see Heechul in anything other than his school uniform or the few outfits that he’d worn when they’d been out at weekends. He’d worn jeans on the way there, with the pink jumper that Hankyung recognised, and had already been asleep when Hankyung had come to bed that night. When they’d woken up that morning, however, Heechul had come down to breakfast wearing skinny fit jeans that Hankyung had never seen before, and a black t-shirt that showed off a decidedly masculine frame. Hankyung noticed men checking him out before they realised, and after that it was the women who stared openly.
The torture had not stopped once they’d arrived at the beach. While everyone else had immediately ran off into the water like little kids seeing the sea for the first time in their lives, Heechul had sat on the beach, in a pair of swim shorts and the black t-shirt, and was most decidedly sunbathing. At around eleven o’clock, when the sun had become fairly hot and Kibum was holding Donghae’s head under the water in revenge for jumping on top of him, Heechul stood up, stretched, and took off his shirt. Not that Hankyung had been watching.
“Oh God,” said Hankyung, and dived under the water.
He would admit (but only under threat of death) that Heechul had a nice body, if it was a little thin. He didn’t have the muscles of Siwon (who was currently being hit on by no less than five gorgeous girls over by the ice cream stand), or the sheer masculinity of Kangin; neither did he have the honed slimness of Eunhyuk and Donghae, brought on by years of dancing. Hankyung got the feeling that if he tried, he could easily wrap his arms around Heechul’s waist, or even his hips. He tried not to think of that, because his hands were itching to try.
When he surfaced, Heechul was standing by the edge of the water, shielding his eyes from the sun and staring at them. “You all look like drowned rats,” he said. “I’m not sure whether I want to come in after all.”
This statement was met with calls of approval from the rest of the group, and one call of “it’ll cool you down” from Sungmin, who had somehow ended up on Kangin’s shoulders. Heechul wrinkled his nose up.
“But it’ll mess up my hair,” he said. “And then I’ll have to spend ages tonight trying to get it untangled and sand gets everywhere once you’re wet. I really don’t know.”
It was at this point that Siwon, who had been creeping up behind Heechul, picked him up, flung him over his shoulder, Heechul screaming, and ran full-pelt into the water. He waded into a fairly deep part, Heechul hitting him on the back with hard fists and kicking his legs around in an attempt to get free, and once they were at the chosen destination, he dropped Heechul unceremoniously into the water, and quickly swam away.
Heechul surfaced spluttering a mixture of water and expletives. “Fucking hell, Siwon!” He screamed. “I can’t believe you just did that!”
Hankyung clamped a hand over his mouth to stop his laughter from escaping. Sungmin had half slipped off Kangin shoulders in his fits; Yehsung was in danger of drowning if he laughed any more. Siwon stood quite a way away, where he could swim off easily if Heechul decided to retaliate, dripping water and grinning widely. “I can’t believe you’re all laughing at me as well,” said Heechul, now looking as much of a drowned rat as everyone else. “That was so unfair.”
“At least you’re in the water now,” pointed out Eeteuk with a laugh.
“I doubly can’t believe you’re laughing at me.” Heechul said to Hankyung, who had given over any pretence and was laughing quite hard now. “You don’t even know what your sexuality is.”
If that was meant to shut Hankyung up, it worked remarkably well.
“I’ll pay you,” said Hankyung half an hour later, when Yehsung and Kangin had teamed up to splash the hell out of Heechul and Sungmin, “to swim over to Heechul and pull him under by the ankles.”
“Why would I do that?” Siwon asked with a confused smile.
“I want revenge for earlier,” shrugged Hankyung.
“Sorry, but I won’t do it,” said Siwon lazily, lounging on his back in the water. “I’m already in the doghouse for the dumping prank. If I do anything else, I’ll probably be castrated in my sleep or something.”
“I wonder if Yehsung will do it,” mused Hankyung.
“Why don’t you just do it?” Siwon asked. “He’ll probably forgive you for it.”
Hankyung managed to persuade Siwon to help distract Heechul, along with Sungmin, who thought the whole thing was hilarious and was perfectly willing to assist. The two started a game of catch in the water, where it was deep enough to swim but also shallow enough to stand up. They brought Heechul into the game quite easily, helped along by the fact that Eeteuk and Donghae also joined in while the rest of the group wandered off to find some drinks from somewhere. Hankyung made out that he was going to go join them, and when Heechul wasn’t looking, slipped back into the water and made his way over.
It was surprisingly easy - the eagle eyes that Donghae had warned him against didn’t seem to work either in the water or when he was truly having fun. Hankyung paused for a second, then reached forward, grabbed Heechul by the ankles and pulled them out from under him. The boy went down with a yell and without any grace at all. Hankyung grinned at him under the water, and then above the water, while Heechul stared at him in total shock.
“Why,” asked Heechul, “is everyone determined to pick on me today?” Hankyung just laughed and pushed back into the water before he brushed the drops of water from Heechul’s forehead. Eeteuk gave him a pointed look; Donghae looked like he wasn’t too sure what had just happened.
*
“Ow,” said Hankyung as he walked into the door frame. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to - I didn’t.” He was rather at a loss for words. There were a few things in his life that Hankyung had not particularly wanted to see, and while he’d never really thought about before, what he had just witnessed would probably have been one of them.
Donghae stared at him, and Hankyung wished that he would fasten his shirt back up, because it was slightly distracting, when he was trying to talk to him and Donghae looked like he’d just thoroughly good sex. Hankyung was beginning to feel sick.
“Sorry,” said Kibum, and ran a hand through his hair and pulled his shirt down. He wiped discreetly at his mouth. “Was there something you wanted?”
Hankyung stared at him. “You’re in the bathroom,” he said. “A public bathroom.”
Kibum looked around himself, and his eyebrows rose with some surprise. “Wow,” he said. “You’re right.” Hankyung gaped at him, because if his instincts were correct, then Kibum hadn’t even known where he was before he’d started groping Donghae. Today was proving to be a day of unbelievable weirdness. “I can’t believe you pulled me into a bathroom,” said Kibum casually to Donghae.
Donghae shrugged. “It was the nearest door available,” he said. “I’d have dragged you into a broom cupboard if that had been closer.”
Hankyung stared at him in horror, and then closed his eyes in the hope that this was nothing more than a nightmare. “I’m going to go now,” he said, still with his eyes shut.
“Good,” said Donghae brightly, and Hankyung opened his eyes. Donghae had placed his hand on the back of Kibum’s neck, while the other fiddled with the waistband of Kibum’s jeans. “I want to have sex today, and you’re messing it up.”
Hankyung shut his eyes again, and walked into the door frame again on his way out. To the people he passed on his way back to the room, he looked as though he’d just seen a ghost. In a way, he had: he’d just waved goodbye to the ghost of his sanity.
“Kibum and Donghae are having sex in the bathroom.” He announced when he walked into the room. Everyone looked up at him in some surprise.
“Really?” Heechul asked, glancing up over the top of his magazine. Hankyung nodded and blinked. He felt as though the image of Kibum kissing Donghae against the white wall was stained into his eyelids forever.
“Oh no,” said Eeteuk, and he jumped up. “I’ve told them before, don’t have sex in public places, anyone could walk in on them.”
“Someone did,” said Hankyung, and sat down hard on the floor. “Me.”
“Aw,” said Heechul with a smirk. “Hannie’s traumatized for life.” Hankyung just stared at him - at that point in time, the nickname didn’t even register.
*
“Ow,” said Hankyung, and sat up. “Sorry,” he said, and got the strangest feeling of déjà vu. He untangled his feet from the covers he had tripped over and stood up. “I didn’t mean to walk in?” He offered.
Sungmin sat up, his hair ruffled and lips swollen. Kyuhyun didn’t bother - he just lay there, breathing heavily, with his eyes shut. Hankyung tried to not think about that. “I thought you were out with everyone else,” said Sungmin, and he didn’t sound particularly remorseful, just annoyed at being interrupted.
“I forgot my camera,” said Hankyung, and wandered over to his section of the room and rummaged around trying to find it, avoiding Sungmin’s watchful gaze. “Found it,” he said triumphantly, and held it up to show them.
Kyuhyun opened one eye lazily, and Hankyung realised that he was missing the t-shirt he’d been wearing when Hankyung had left the room fifteen minutes before, and that when he’d walked in, the clinking metal sound had been the sound of Sungmin undoing Kyuhyun’s belt. “Good,” said Kyuhyun, in a hoarse voice. “Shut the door on your way out.” Hankyung did so.
“You’re very quiet,” said Siwon ten minutes later, when they were on the bus into town for the much anticipated (by Heechul) shopping trip. “Are you feeling okay?”
Hankyung turned his haunted gaze onto him. “Kyuhyun and Sungmin were having sex in our room.” He said. Siwon winced and patted his back in sympathy.
“Ew,” said Heechul, scrunching his face up. “I have to sleep in there tonight.”
*
Hankyung watched as Kibum and Donghae slipped out the room, and Sungmin rested his head on Kyuhyun’s shoulder as they watched the television, and Kangin and Eeteuk talked quietly, heads close together, and Yehsung stroked Ryeowook’s hair, as the younger boy slept in his lap. He turned to Siwon.
“I think that this is a conspiracy,” said Hankyung, and motioned to the group. “I think you’re trying to turn me gay.”
Siwon grinned at him. “Is it working?” He asked.
“You are!” Hankyung was indignant, but he didn’t look particularly threatening. “You’re trying to turn me gay just so I’ll go out with Heechul, or something totally stupid like that.”
“Would it really be so stupid?” Siwon asked quietly.
Hankyung looked over at where Heechul was asleep, curled up like a cat on his futon, the thin covers pulled up to his neck. He was smiling slightly, and breathing calmly, his chest rising and falling evenly. A lock of hair had fallen into his face, and Hankyung had been fighting against the urge to tuck it back all night.
“Yes.” He said. “No. I don’t know.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m so confused right now.”
“That’s good.” Siwon told him. “None of the others got to where they are now without being confused at some point. None of them woke up and thought, well, I’m gay. Well,” he allowed, “maybe Sungmin did. The point is, they fought against it. Kibum pretended for over a year that Donghae hanging all over him didn’t affect him at all.”
“That’s why I won’t touch him,” admitted Hankyung. “I thought that if I avoided contact, I’d be able to - not get over it, but maybe just ignore it, until Heechul decided to give up. But I don’t think it’s working.”
“Heechul doesn’t give up,” said Siwon. “You’ll be avoiding him until the world ends.”
“I wanted to ignore him, just pretend he didn’t exist. I was so angry,” said Hankyung, and it felt nice to talk about it for once. “I wanted to make him feel the way that he made me feel. And still, it didn’t work. Heechul acted as though I wasn’t being a cold bastard, and just carried on like normal, and I realised that I liked that. He’s unbreakable, he’s able to jump back from anything, in a way that I can’t. I just…” He stopped, looked at Heechul and then looked at Siwon again. “I don’t know what I want anymore.”
“Decide,” said Siwon gently. “You have to decide soon. I know that you don’t mean to do it, but you’re almost stringing Heechul along, because I think he thinks that he still has a chance.”
Hankyung looked at Heechul again. “Don’t think anything of this.” He told Siwon, and reached over and tucked the piece of hair back behind Heechul’s ear, and Siwon didn’t comment on the way that Hankyung’s hand paused for a second too much.
*
“I can’t believe it’s the last day already,” said Heechul, as he lay in his back in the water in the little cove they’d found on their second day.
“I can,” said Eeteuk. “I feel totally burnt.”
“Old people tend to burn more easily,” said Heechul lazily, because he himself was sporting a fantastic tan. Eeteuk retaliated by splashing him.
A small amount of water hit Kangin in the face, and judging by the mischievous grin on Eeteuk’s face, that had meant to happen. Kangin stood up, face thunderous, and then somehow caused a mini tidal wave to splash over Eeteuk, which hit both Ryeowook and Kyuhyun, and which then caused a group water fight.
Hankyung was laughing and enjoying himself, and he’d let go of everything that had been bothering him over the past few weeks; he was enjoying being young, having friends, the sun, the earth, everything. Siwon had Heechul over his shoulder again; Hankyung waded up to the two and stood in front of them, and grinned.
“Don’t you dare,” said Heechul, glaring down at him. “Don’t you dare.”
Hankyung dipped his hands in the water.
“Come on,” said Heechul desperately. “I’ll do anything. I’ll pack your stuff for going home. I’ll do your homework for a month.” Seeing that Hankyung was resolute, he wailed, “Siwon, don’t do it!”
Hankyung nodded to Siwon, and Siwon leant down so Heechul was closer to the water.
“You’re going to do it no matter what I say, aren’t you?” Heechul asked. Hankyung nodded and Heechul snarled at him. “Hannie!” He screamed, at the top of his voice. “Don’t do it, Hannie! I swear, I won’t sleep with Simba again, Hannie!”
Hankyung splashed water over his head.
Heechul came after him first, yelling at him, not in the least bit scary when his hair had fallen out of the loose ponytail he’d put in it and was half plastered to his face. Hankyung ran as fast as he could in thigh deep water, laughing all the way, aware that he was acting like a big kid and not caring in the slightest. Heechul caught up with him as he neared the cave that Sungmin had found while he was exploring, and pushed him on the back, and then Heechul seemed to slip and fall forward. Hankyung turned and grabbed him around the waist to stop him, and then became painfully conscious that this had caused Heechul to fall flush against him - a wet, shirtless Heechul at that.
“Um,” he said.
“That hurt,” said Heechul, and pulled back slightly. He looked up at Hankyung. “You’ve got hold of my waist,” he said, his voice suggesting that Hankyung should let go. Hankyung tried to not think of the way it felt to have Heechul in the loose circle of his arms, or how it felt to have his chest pressed up against his, or how it felt to be so close, and failed. He closed his eyes, and then opened them
“You make me so confused,” he told Heechul, and then leaned forward and kissed him.
Heechul’s hair was rough and tangled from the salt; he had grains of sand dusted over his shoulders; he tasted like sea water. Hankyung found that he could easily wrap on arm around Heechul’s waist to pull him close, and his other hand rested lightly on the skin where Heechul’s neck met his shoulder. Heechul’s hands were pressed to either side of his face, and he was kissing him frantically, as if he was afraid that Hankyung would disappear at any moment. Just like his sister Hankyung thought vaguely, but then Heechul did something with his tongue and he couldn’t really think straight any more.
There was shocked silence when they pulled apart, until Siwon started laughing and clapping, and then Eunhyuk and Donghae started cheering, and Sungmin and Ryeowook started jumping up and down and screaming like little children. Hankyung laughed too, and pushed Heechul’s hair behind his shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “For - you know.”
“It’s fine,” said Heechul with a wave of his hand. “I forgive you. I got a bit worried in the middle, though,” he added. “It wasn’t until you tucked my hair back that night that I realised that I did still have a chance.”
“Wait,” said Hankyung, and let go of Heechul’s waist in surprise. “You were awake?” Heechul smirked and nodded. “You were awake! I can’t believe you! You shouldn’t do that,” he protested weakly. “Listen into other people’s conversation’s, I mean. I just - that’s so unfair!”
“You’re cute when you’re angry,” said Heechul, and kissed him again.
Chapter: 9/25
Fandom: Super Junior AU (High School)
Pairing: Hankyung/crossdressing!Heechul (main), Kangin/Eeteuk, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, bestfriends!Eunhae.
Word count: 3,496
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Coming into a strange new world can be strange enough. Unfortunately, someone’s forgotten to tell Hankyung something Very Important.
A/N: And this still isn't the end. I have a ridiculously overactive mind. But development: my fic has it!
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10
“I think,” said Hankyung to Siwon, as Heechul got up and wandered off to the toilet, “that if anyone asked me right now, I’d say that I hated you most of all.”
Siwon grinned at him. He had, quite gallantly, offered to sit by himself with everyone’s hand luggage piled up beside him. This had the effect of making the only seat available to Hankyung the one next to Heechul. Hankyung got the feeling that everyone else in the group was onto this little ploy - there had to be a reason as to why he’d been the last one on the train, and why everyone had been grinning at him as he’d walked up the aisle, and he felt that this might be that reason.
The consequence of this was that Hankyung had spent the entire journey attempting to avoid body contact with Heechul, which failed miserably when you were squashed up against someone on a seat on a moving train. Heechul also kept leaning over the table to talk to Siwon, who had sat opposite, and the two kept laughing and Hankyung didn’t particularly want to join in.
“Like I said,” said Siwon. “You’re really going to have to get over your denial.”
“What denial?” Shindong asked, leaning over the aisle to listen in.
“The denial that says that he’s not gay,” said Siwon, before Hankyung could stop him.
“Oh,” said Shindong, and leant back. “Is that all?” Hankyung gaped at him.
“Hankyung, you deny it so much that you couldn’t be anything but.” Sungmin piped up, looking very comfortable lying back against Kyuhyun’s chest (the same couldn’t be said about Kyuhyun). Hankyung gaped at him.
“But - but I’m not!” He protested loudly.
“Face it,” said Yehsung. “You’re completely in love with Heechul.
“I am not,” said Hankyung, and was aware that when he said that, he was telling the greatest lie of his life.
“This is cute,” said Kangin with a grin. “It’s like watching an eight year old insist that he doesn’t like girls, when he is secretly crushing on his babysitter.”
“I think that was just you,” said Eeteuk, giving him a weird look. “Wait,” he said, seemingly realising something. “Didn’t I baby sit you once?” Kangin shrugged and grinned.
“I take it back,” said Hankyung, staring around at them. “I hate all of you most of all.” He sat back and refused to talk for the remaining half hour of the journey, and ignored resolutely the boisterous laughter that Heechul’s return brought on.
“If I had to be perfectly honest,” whispered Hankyung to Siwon that night, when everyone else was asleep, tired out by the journey, “maybe I do still like Heechul.”
“Well that much is obvious,” said Siwon, and turned over and went to sleep.
*
There was something inherently wrong about seeing Heechul without his shirt on. In fact, it felt wrong to see Heechul in anything other than his school uniform or the few outfits that he’d worn when they’d been out at weekends. He’d worn jeans on the way there, with the pink jumper that Hankyung recognised, and had already been asleep when Hankyung had come to bed that night. When they’d woken up that morning, however, Heechul had come down to breakfast wearing skinny fit jeans that Hankyung had never seen before, and a black t-shirt that showed off a decidedly masculine frame. Hankyung noticed men checking him out before they realised, and after that it was the women who stared openly.
The torture had not stopped once they’d arrived at the beach. While everyone else had immediately ran off into the water like little kids seeing the sea for the first time in their lives, Heechul had sat on the beach, in a pair of swim shorts and the black t-shirt, and was most decidedly sunbathing. At around eleven o’clock, when the sun had become fairly hot and Kibum was holding Donghae’s head under the water in revenge for jumping on top of him, Heechul stood up, stretched, and took off his shirt. Not that Hankyung had been watching.
“Oh God,” said Hankyung, and dived under the water.
He would admit (but only under threat of death) that Heechul had a nice body, if it was a little thin. He didn’t have the muscles of Siwon (who was currently being hit on by no less than five gorgeous girls over by the ice cream stand), or the sheer masculinity of Kangin; neither did he have the honed slimness of Eunhyuk and Donghae, brought on by years of dancing. Hankyung got the feeling that if he tried, he could easily wrap his arms around Heechul’s waist, or even his hips. He tried not to think of that, because his hands were itching to try.
When he surfaced, Heechul was standing by the edge of the water, shielding his eyes from the sun and staring at them. “You all look like drowned rats,” he said. “I’m not sure whether I want to come in after all.”
This statement was met with calls of approval from the rest of the group, and one call of “it’ll cool you down” from Sungmin, who had somehow ended up on Kangin’s shoulders. Heechul wrinkled his nose up.
“But it’ll mess up my hair,” he said. “And then I’ll have to spend ages tonight trying to get it untangled and sand gets everywhere once you’re wet. I really don’t know.”
It was at this point that Siwon, who had been creeping up behind Heechul, picked him up, flung him over his shoulder, Heechul screaming, and ran full-pelt into the water. He waded into a fairly deep part, Heechul hitting him on the back with hard fists and kicking his legs around in an attempt to get free, and once they were at the chosen destination, he dropped Heechul unceremoniously into the water, and quickly swam away.
Heechul surfaced spluttering a mixture of water and expletives. “Fucking hell, Siwon!” He screamed. “I can’t believe you just did that!”
Hankyung clamped a hand over his mouth to stop his laughter from escaping. Sungmin had half slipped off Kangin shoulders in his fits; Yehsung was in danger of drowning if he laughed any more. Siwon stood quite a way away, where he could swim off easily if Heechul decided to retaliate, dripping water and grinning widely. “I can’t believe you’re all laughing at me as well,” said Heechul, now looking as much of a drowned rat as everyone else. “That was so unfair.”
“At least you’re in the water now,” pointed out Eeteuk with a laugh.
“I doubly can’t believe you’re laughing at me.” Heechul said to Hankyung, who had given over any pretence and was laughing quite hard now. “You don’t even know what your sexuality is.”
If that was meant to shut Hankyung up, it worked remarkably well.
“I’ll pay you,” said Hankyung half an hour later, when Yehsung and Kangin had teamed up to splash the hell out of Heechul and Sungmin, “to swim over to Heechul and pull him under by the ankles.”
“Why would I do that?” Siwon asked with a confused smile.
“I want revenge for earlier,” shrugged Hankyung.
“Sorry, but I won’t do it,” said Siwon lazily, lounging on his back in the water. “I’m already in the doghouse for the dumping prank. If I do anything else, I’ll probably be castrated in my sleep or something.”
“I wonder if Yehsung will do it,” mused Hankyung.
“Why don’t you just do it?” Siwon asked. “He’ll probably forgive you for it.”
Hankyung managed to persuade Siwon to help distract Heechul, along with Sungmin, who thought the whole thing was hilarious and was perfectly willing to assist. The two started a game of catch in the water, where it was deep enough to swim but also shallow enough to stand up. They brought Heechul into the game quite easily, helped along by the fact that Eeteuk and Donghae also joined in while the rest of the group wandered off to find some drinks from somewhere. Hankyung made out that he was going to go join them, and when Heechul wasn’t looking, slipped back into the water and made his way over.
It was surprisingly easy - the eagle eyes that Donghae had warned him against didn’t seem to work either in the water or when he was truly having fun. Hankyung paused for a second, then reached forward, grabbed Heechul by the ankles and pulled them out from under him. The boy went down with a yell and without any grace at all. Hankyung grinned at him under the water, and then above the water, while Heechul stared at him in total shock.
“Why,” asked Heechul, “is everyone determined to pick on me today?” Hankyung just laughed and pushed back into the water before he brushed the drops of water from Heechul’s forehead. Eeteuk gave him a pointed look; Donghae looked like he wasn’t too sure what had just happened.
*
“Ow,” said Hankyung as he walked into the door frame. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to - I didn’t.” He was rather at a loss for words. There were a few things in his life that Hankyung had not particularly wanted to see, and while he’d never really thought about before, what he had just witnessed would probably have been one of them.
Donghae stared at him, and Hankyung wished that he would fasten his shirt back up, because it was slightly distracting, when he was trying to talk to him and Donghae looked like he’d just thoroughly good sex. Hankyung was beginning to feel sick.
“Sorry,” said Kibum, and ran a hand through his hair and pulled his shirt down. He wiped discreetly at his mouth. “Was there something you wanted?”
Hankyung stared at him. “You’re in the bathroom,” he said. “A public bathroom.”
Kibum looked around himself, and his eyebrows rose with some surprise. “Wow,” he said. “You’re right.” Hankyung gaped at him, because if his instincts were correct, then Kibum hadn’t even known where he was before he’d started groping Donghae. Today was proving to be a day of unbelievable weirdness. “I can’t believe you pulled me into a bathroom,” said Kibum casually to Donghae.
Donghae shrugged. “It was the nearest door available,” he said. “I’d have dragged you into a broom cupboard if that had been closer.”
Hankyung stared at him in horror, and then closed his eyes in the hope that this was nothing more than a nightmare. “I’m going to go now,” he said, still with his eyes shut.
“Good,” said Donghae brightly, and Hankyung opened his eyes. Donghae had placed his hand on the back of Kibum’s neck, while the other fiddled with the waistband of Kibum’s jeans. “I want to have sex today, and you’re messing it up.”
Hankyung shut his eyes again, and walked into the door frame again on his way out. To the people he passed on his way back to the room, he looked as though he’d just seen a ghost. In a way, he had: he’d just waved goodbye to the ghost of his sanity.
“Kibum and Donghae are having sex in the bathroom.” He announced when he walked into the room. Everyone looked up at him in some surprise.
“Really?” Heechul asked, glancing up over the top of his magazine. Hankyung nodded and blinked. He felt as though the image of Kibum kissing Donghae against the white wall was stained into his eyelids forever.
“Oh no,” said Eeteuk, and he jumped up. “I’ve told them before, don’t have sex in public places, anyone could walk in on them.”
“Someone did,” said Hankyung, and sat down hard on the floor. “Me.”
“Aw,” said Heechul with a smirk. “Hannie’s traumatized for life.” Hankyung just stared at him - at that point in time, the nickname didn’t even register.
*
“Ow,” said Hankyung, and sat up. “Sorry,” he said, and got the strangest feeling of déjà vu. He untangled his feet from the covers he had tripped over and stood up. “I didn’t mean to walk in?” He offered.
Sungmin sat up, his hair ruffled and lips swollen. Kyuhyun didn’t bother - he just lay there, breathing heavily, with his eyes shut. Hankyung tried to not think about that. “I thought you were out with everyone else,” said Sungmin, and he didn’t sound particularly remorseful, just annoyed at being interrupted.
“I forgot my camera,” said Hankyung, and wandered over to his section of the room and rummaged around trying to find it, avoiding Sungmin’s watchful gaze. “Found it,” he said triumphantly, and held it up to show them.
Kyuhyun opened one eye lazily, and Hankyung realised that he was missing the t-shirt he’d been wearing when Hankyung had left the room fifteen minutes before, and that when he’d walked in, the clinking metal sound had been the sound of Sungmin undoing Kyuhyun’s belt. “Good,” said Kyuhyun, in a hoarse voice. “Shut the door on your way out.” Hankyung did so.
“You’re very quiet,” said Siwon ten minutes later, when they were on the bus into town for the much anticipated (by Heechul) shopping trip. “Are you feeling okay?”
Hankyung turned his haunted gaze onto him. “Kyuhyun and Sungmin were having sex in our room.” He said. Siwon winced and patted his back in sympathy.
“Ew,” said Heechul, scrunching his face up. “I have to sleep in there tonight.”
*
Hankyung watched as Kibum and Donghae slipped out the room, and Sungmin rested his head on Kyuhyun’s shoulder as they watched the television, and Kangin and Eeteuk talked quietly, heads close together, and Yehsung stroked Ryeowook’s hair, as the younger boy slept in his lap. He turned to Siwon.
“I think that this is a conspiracy,” said Hankyung, and motioned to the group. “I think you’re trying to turn me gay.”
Siwon grinned at him. “Is it working?” He asked.
“You are!” Hankyung was indignant, but he didn’t look particularly threatening. “You’re trying to turn me gay just so I’ll go out with Heechul, or something totally stupid like that.”
“Would it really be so stupid?” Siwon asked quietly.
Hankyung looked over at where Heechul was asleep, curled up like a cat on his futon, the thin covers pulled up to his neck. He was smiling slightly, and breathing calmly, his chest rising and falling evenly. A lock of hair had fallen into his face, and Hankyung had been fighting against the urge to tuck it back all night.
“Yes.” He said. “No. I don’t know.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m so confused right now.”
“That’s good.” Siwon told him. “None of the others got to where they are now without being confused at some point. None of them woke up and thought, well, I’m gay. Well,” he allowed, “maybe Sungmin did. The point is, they fought against it. Kibum pretended for over a year that Donghae hanging all over him didn’t affect him at all.”
“That’s why I won’t touch him,” admitted Hankyung. “I thought that if I avoided contact, I’d be able to - not get over it, but maybe just ignore it, until Heechul decided to give up. But I don’t think it’s working.”
“Heechul doesn’t give up,” said Siwon. “You’ll be avoiding him until the world ends.”
“I wanted to ignore him, just pretend he didn’t exist. I was so angry,” said Hankyung, and it felt nice to talk about it for once. “I wanted to make him feel the way that he made me feel. And still, it didn’t work. Heechul acted as though I wasn’t being a cold bastard, and just carried on like normal, and I realised that I liked that. He’s unbreakable, he’s able to jump back from anything, in a way that I can’t. I just…” He stopped, looked at Heechul and then looked at Siwon again. “I don’t know what I want anymore.”
“Decide,” said Siwon gently. “You have to decide soon. I know that you don’t mean to do it, but you’re almost stringing Heechul along, because I think he thinks that he still has a chance.”
Hankyung looked at Heechul again. “Don’t think anything of this.” He told Siwon, and reached over and tucked the piece of hair back behind Heechul’s ear, and Siwon didn’t comment on the way that Hankyung’s hand paused for a second too much.
*
“I can’t believe it’s the last day already,” said Heechul, as he lay in his back in the water in the little cove they’d found on their second day.
“I can,” said Eeteuk. “I feel totally burnt.”
“Old people tend to burn more easily,” said Heechul lazily, because he himself was sporting a fantastic tan. Eeteuk retaliated by splashing him.
A small amount of water hit Kangin in the face, and judging by the mischievous grin on Eeteuk’s face, that had meant to happen. Kangin stood up, face thunderous, and then somehow caused a mini tidal wave to splash over Eeteuk, which hit both Ryeowook and Kyuhyun, and which then caused a group water fight.
Hankyung was laughing and enjoying himself, and he’d let go of everything that had been bothering him over the past few weeks; he was enjoying being young, having friends, the sun, the earth, everything. Siwon had Heechul over his shoulder again; Hankyung waded up to the two and stood in front of them, and grinned.
“Don’t you dare,” said Heechul, glaring down at him. “Don’t you dare.”
Hankyung dipped his hands in the water.
“Come on,” said Heechul desperately. “I’ll do anything. I’ll pack your stuff for going home. I’ll do your homework for a month.” Seeing that Hankyung was resolute, he wailed, “Siwon, don’t do it!”
Hankyung nodded to Siwon, and Siwon leant down so Heechul was closer to the water.
“You’re going to do it no matter what I say, aren’t you?” Heechul asked. Hankyung nodded and Heechul snarled at him. “Hannie!” He screamed, at the top of his voice. “Don’t do it, Hannie! I swear, I won’t sleep with Simba again, Hannie!”
Hankyung splashed water over his head.
Heechul came after him first, yelling at him, not in the least bit scary when his hair had fallen out of the loose ponytail he’d put in it and was half plastered to his face. Hankyung ran as fast as he could in thigh deep water, laughing all the way, aware that he was acting like a big kid and not caring in the slightest. Heechul caught up with him as he neared the cave that Sungmin had found while he was exploring, and pushed him on the back, and then Heechul seemed to slip and fall forward. Hankyung turned and grabbed him around the waist to stop him, and then became painfully conscious that this had caused Heechul to fall flush against him - a wet, shirtless Heechul at that.
“Um,” he said.
“That hurt,” said Heechul, and pulled back slightly. He looked up at Hankyung. “You’ve got hold of my waist,” he said, his voice suggesting that Hankyung should let go. Hankyung tried to not think of the way it felt to have Heechul in the loose circle of his arms, or how it felt to have his chest pressed up against his, or how it felt to be so close, and failed. He closed his eyes, and then opened them
“You make me so confused,” he told Heechul, and then leaned forward and kissed him.
Heechul’s hair was rough and tangled from the salt; he had grains of sand dusted over his shoulders; he tasted like sea water. Hankyung found that he could easily wrap on arm around Heechul’s waist to pull him close, and his other hand rested lightly on the skin where Heechul’s neck met his shoulder. Heechul’s hands were pressed to either side of his face, and he was kissing him frantically, as if he was afraid that Hankyung would disappear at any moment. Just like his sister Hankyung thought vaguely, but then Heechul did something with his tongue and he couldn’t really think straight any more.
There was shocked silence when they pulled apart, until Siwon started laughing and clapping, and then Eunhyuk and Donghae started cheering, and Sungmin and Ryeowook started jumping up and down and screaming like little children. Hankyung laughed too, and pushed Heechul’s hair behind his shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “For - you know.”
“It’s fine,” said Heechul with a wave of his hand. “I forgive you. I got a bit worried in the middle, though,” he added. “It wasn’t until you tucked my hair back that night that I realised that I did still have a chance.”
“Wait,” said Hankyung, and let go of Heechul’s waist in surprise. “You were awake?” Heechul smirked and nodded. “You were awake! I can’t believe you! You shouldn’t do that,” he protested weakly. “Listen into other people’s conversation’s, I mean. I just - that’s so unfair!”
“You’re cute when you’re angry,” said Heechul, and kissed him again.