02; remember me when i'm alive, hankyung/heechul, kangin/eeteuk !au
Remember Me When I'm Alive, (Hankyung/Heechul, Kangin/Leeteuk, Shiwon/Heechul !friendship)
2232 words, PG-15
One-shot
same universe as ficcy's remake of a broken world.
Summary: It is a world with ten million people, but half of them go back to empty homes, or seek peace in the form of dying. Dread overcomes everybody for inexplicable reasons. And yet, even in this gloomy world, it is in the little things that people find happiness in. This story is about forgetting, remembering, disappearing.
a/n: i do not believe in 2012 and all that nonsense okay. this universe is seriously amazing though, and you should read ficcy's one in order to fully comprehend this. you won't regret her story, seriously.
The first impression Siwon gives Heechul is one of fear. A group of people follows Siwon into Hankyung's restaurant and he can see reverence in the way they look almost awestruck by anything Siwon says. In this age, nobody goes anywhere in groups anymore - Siwon has to have a certain kind of hold over those people. Then, he hears the phrase 'Second Coming', and before he knows it, Heechul is in front of Siwon.
"Out," he says calmly.
Siwon blinks. Then, a genial smile spreads over his face. "Heechul? It's been ages since I'd seen you! How are you?" He says this as his arms move to wrap around Heechul of their own accord, but Heechul niftily dodges away.
With a roll of his eyes, Heechul crosses his arms and says with sarcasm dripping off every word. "A dog could think of a better pick-up line than that. I'm not interested, so get out. Now."
Immediately, Siwon's face falls and Heechul gets the nagging feeling that he is supposed to know this man. Siwon's mouth opens, then closes again. Almost as though he is speaking to himself, he mumbles, "You don't remember..." Trailing off, he gives a short laugh before repeating those three words again. At Siwon's words, nervous twitters begin from the huddled group of people. Heechul frowns and opens his mouth to speak - but gets cut off by Siwon, who waves his hand airily. The expression on Siwon's face has been smoothed over by now, although Heechul can tell by the grim set of Siwon's jaw line that Siwon is merely putting on a mask.
Siwon turns around then, nodding to all of his 'followers' as he leads them out of the restaurant. "I guess you've just observed first-hand someone not remembering... things. This will happen to all of us, unfortunately - but this is only the beginning of the Second Coming! If we stop caring so much about material..." The rest of Siwon's sentence is blown away by the wind as he walks out, taking the group of people with him.
Heechul scowls after them and mutters good riddance under his breath. Just as he turns around, he hears a timid voice speaking - "If you don't mind me asking... How did you know that person back there?" Heechul stills, but the door slams shut and the answer never reaches his ears.
When Heechul enters the kitchen after taking the orders of Youngwoon and that pale yet somehow ethereal friend of his, Hankyung leans against the counter and raises a brow at him. "If a certain bill passes this year?" Hankyung echoes, smile playing in the corner of his lips.
Heechul advances towards Hankyung, angelic smile on his face. "Yep. Unless, of course... You already plan to have me yours? That will only work if you're mine too, though." His voice and smile dip as the sentence ends, breath ghosting over Hankyung's lips before he claims those very lips. Hankyung's response is instinctual; arms folding around Heechul with familiar ease as he kisses back.
"You know I'm yours," Hankyung mumbles into the kiss and Heechul smiles, butterflies that feel alien in his stomach fluttering around anyway. He does not reply because there is no need to - Hankyung knows his answer to that statement anyway.
Later on, as Heechul nods goodbye to Youngwoon and Jungsu, he finds himself smiling. Youngwoon is a good person, and he can tell that Jungsu - who seems uncomfortable in his own skin and almost fragile - is perfect for Youngwoon. Cliché as it sounds, there is a light in Youngwoon's eyes that has not been there since his ex-girlfriend forgot about him.
He throws open the door to the kitchen with a smile and declares, "Let's close the place early today, I feel like going home." The curve of his lips suggests another meaning to that sentence.
Hankyung turns around with a confused frown. "Do I... know you?"
Heechul's smile fades even as he rolls his eyes, "Ha-ha, very funny. I'm not that easily taken in, Hankyung." He expects - and hopes for - Hankyung's familiar, abashed, 'you win' smile to appear, but all Hankyung does is stare at him with a bemused and questioning expression on his face. A trace of hesitation creeps into Heechul's voice. "Hankyung? It's not funny, okay? Did that creeper messenger of God kid get to you?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't seem to know you. Oh! Are you after that waiter's job? Unfortunately, it's tak-," Hankyung's shaky, Mandarin-accented Korean comes to a stop as he frowns to himself before shaking his head. "No, wait, I'm not myself today." He gives a laugh, before smiling warmly at Heechul. "I guess we'll start the interview now, then. Do you have any experience in being a waiter?"
Heechul stares at him, disbelief written plainly over his features. A flash of deja vu hits him, because this scene - Hankyung's shaky Korean and his way of conducting an interview in the kitchen - is almost exactly how Heechul had met him. Heechul's eyes narrow as he crosses the distance between them in a flash. His hands move up to cradle Hankyung's face just before his lips descend on Hankyung's. The kiss is forceful this time, with a tinge of desperation in it as he forces, wills and hopes Hankyung remembers. Hankyung pushes him away with disgust written plainly in his features. Heechul turns and runs.
He stumbles blindly out of the restaurant, unwanted tears clouding his vision even as he snaps at himself to get a grip. An almost gleeful and sly voice laughs at him from the back of his mind. I told you not to depend on anyone, didn't I? See where loving someone led you? He has forgotten about you! Heechul snarls and asks the voice to shut the fuck up, but all the voice does is cackle harder.
Without knowing it, Heechul manages to trip on a shoelace that has gone untied. He only realises it when he finds himself sprawled face down on the ground, dirt and rubble on his lips. None of the passer-by’s spare him a glance. They move around him, eyes averted as though they are unable to see him. Ten million people in the world and yet almost all of them go back to empty homes. He slowly gets up, dusting off the dirt from his hands. As he does so, he catches sight of an old photograph lying on the ground, dusty from shoeprints. Heechul looks away - and then does a double take. Is that him, in the picture? And beside him... that person who had claimed to know Heechul, the one whose disappointed face still lingers in Heechul's mind for some unknown reason. Behind them is a school, and they are in school uniforms.
Just then, warm and big hands take hold of the photograph. On instinct, Heechul reaches out to grab those hands with a, "That's mine!"
The hands still in surprise and when Heechul looks up, he stares right into the now-familiar, chocolate-brown eyes of Siwon, his childhood friend.
"You remember?" Siwon asks, surprise and disbelief and hope in his eyes. Heechul nods twice before a small sob betrays him and escapes from his mouth. Traitor, he remembers thinking even as Siwon's arms wrap around his shuddering frame, even as he clings onto Siwon's shirt like a lifeline, photograph between their hearts, even as Hankyung's face burns brighter in his mind.
The next day, Heechul wakes up in an unfamiliar setting. The bed sheets are red - did he finally manage to convince Hankyung to change the sheets? Then, he remembers the previous day's events. He feels the painful wrench of his heart and forces himself to stop thinking about it. Slowly, he gets out of the room. Siwon is already out, but there is a note on the dining table, written in cursive, elegant handwriting.
You'll probably wake up late and with a dreadful hangover, considering the amount of soju you drank last night. I made a hangover drink for you - it's in the fridge, and all you have to do is heat it up. Heechul, don't... don't think too much, all right? I'll be at the park if you're bored.
I won't forget you.
The last sentence is written in small handwriting, as though Siwon has deliberated over writing it. Somehow, it brings a smile to Heechul's lips. As he goes into the kitchen and heats up the drink, he stares out of the window and is met by the sea. He sees the waves crashing against the rocky shore, slowly eroding them. Rocks, he thinks all of a sudden, will continue being there for a long time, even when ten million dwindles to zero. As he continues staring, mesmerised, Heechul wonders where someone would go if he disappears. Would they appear in a place called Here? If everyone forgets about you, would you disappear? Or would you continue existing, drifting along, invisible?
His thoughts of how it would feel like if his body crashes against those rocks get interrupted by the shrill ringing from his cell phone.
Hankyung.
Later on, when he meets Hankyung, Heechul pretends to be unaffected by Hankyung forgetting him. He smacks Hankyung and warns him not to do it again with the usual cold tone in his voice, but Hankyung understands from Heechul's slightly red eyes that Heechul, he is just acting tough. He plays along and laughs with Heechul, promises not to forget him with a tender kiss placed on Heechul's forehead, the tip of his nose, his cheek, the corner of his lips...
When Heechul goes out to serve the customers, Hankyung hastily uses his cell phone to take photographs of Heechul - Heechul's rare smiles, Heechul's usual snark, Heechul, Heechul and more Heechul. He will not cause Heechul anymore hurt.
Siwon starts frequenting their restaurant often now that he is welcomed. He talks about God and Heaven and material possessions. He talks about warmth and humanity and pretends not to notice when Heechul strays closer to their table whenever he does so.
Jungsu begins working in their restaurant and Heechul loves the way he stutters, blushes and crashes into things whenever Heechul mentions the name 'Youngwoon'. While talking to Youngwoon as he waits for Jungsu to finish his shift, Heechul finds out that Jungsoo wrote a warning to himself about Heechul in his journal, and that only serves to crack him up more. He discovers that he likes this pale, unconfident boy even when he normally treats people of this nature with contempt.
"So, is the sex mind-blowing or something? Because you know, from the way he follows you around like a puppy and the way you wait for him to end his shift after work every day, it's almost as though the both of you are married," Heechul says conversationally as he opens the door to the kitchen.
Youngwoon splutters, blushes, and crashes into the door just as Jungsu drops the dish he is washing.
A few weeks later, he is dumping as many clothes as he can into his suitcase in preparation for the trip Hankyung is taking to China. Youngwoon teases him by saying Heechul is afraid of Hankyung forgetting him and not returning. He waves it off with a scoff and an arrogant smile, but deep inside he knows Youngwoon is right. He is unable to take Hankyung forgetting him a second time.
Then, Youngwoon mentions his sister.
On the highway to nowhere, Heechul rolls down the car windows and lets the wind blows his hair into disarray. He rests his feet on the dashboard and shoots a glance at Hankyung through his aviators. Thanks for coming with me, he says silently.
As if in response, Hankyung hand finds Heechul's. It's okay, is Hankyung's unvoiced answer.
We won't forget each other, Heechul says in his mind - although there is a questioning tilt to his sentence.
We won't, Hankyung replies without moving his lips.
"We won't," Heechul says aloud with conviction, nails digging into the back of Hankyung's hand. Hankyung shoots him a weird smile, but does not say anything otherwise.
They disappear into the highway as the wind engulfs them.
Meanwhile, Siwon takes a sip of coffee from the Han restaurant and fingers a photograph in front of him. A younger version of him is in there, together with an effeminate man, eyes bold with challenge as though he has the world in his fingertips. An empty stretch of desert spreads out behind them and Siwon wonders why are they wearing uniforms, wonders who is that man beside him, wonders how they met each other.
Slowly, the steam from his coffee clouds his vision, and Siwon disappears as well.
When Jungsu arrives at Siwon's usual table with a tray of food, he sees nobody there. All that is left are empty, still warm chairs and a negative photograph on the table, as though it has never really gotten past the development stage. He frowns, picks it up and sees two vaguely familiar figures in the photograph, but does not recognise them. Shrugging, he moves to throw the photograph away - before pocketing it, on a whim. Turning back to the kitchen, he spots Youngwoon there and flashes a dimpled grin at Youngwoon.
"Why isn't your restaurant named Kim Restaurant?" he asks, grin still on his face. "Is this Han person related to you?"
2232 words, PG-15
One-shot
same universe as ficcy's remake of a broken world.
Summary: It is a world with ten million people, but half of them go back to empty homes, or seek peace in the form of dying. Dread overcomes everybody for inexplicable reasons. And yet, even in this gloomy world, it is in the little things that people find happiness in. This story is about forgetting, remembering, disappearing.
a/n: i do not believe in 2012 and all that nonsense okay. this universe is seriously amazing though, and you should read ficcy's one in order to fully comprehend this. you won't regret her story, seriously.
The first impression Siwon gives Heechul is one of fear. A group of people follows Siwon into Hankyung's restaurant and he can see reverence in the way they look almost awestruck by anything Siwon says. In this age, nobody goes anywhere in groups anymore - Siwon has to have a certain kind of hold over those people. Then, he hears the phrase 'Second Coming', and before he knows it, Heechul is in front of Siwon.
"Out," he says calmly.
Siwon blinks. Then, a genial smile spreads over his face. "Heechul? It's been ages since I'd seen you! How are you?" He says this as his arms move to wrap around Heechul of their own accord, but Heechul niftily dodges away.
With a roll of his eyes, Heechul crosses his arms and says with sarcasm dripping off every word. "A dog could think of a better pick-up line than that. I'm not interested, so get out. Now."
Immediately, Siwon's face falls and Heechul gets the nagging feeling that he is supposed to know this man. Siwon's mouth opens, then closes again. Almost as though he is speaking to himself, he mumbles, "You don't remember..." Trailing off, he gives a short laugh before repeating those three words again. At Siwon's words, nervous twitters begin from the huddled group of people. Heechul frowns and opens his mouth to speak - but gets cut off by Siwon, who waves his hand airily. The expression on Siwon's face has been smoothed over by now, although Heechul can tell by the grim set of Siwon's jaw line that Siwon is merely putting on a mask.
Siwon turns around then, nodding to all of his 'followers' as he leads them out of the restaurant. "I guess you've just observed first-hand someone not remembering... things. This will happen to all of us, unfortunately - but this is only the beginning of the Second Coming! If we stop caring so much about material..." The rest of Siwon's sentence is blown away by the wind as he walks out, taking the group of people with him.
Heechul scowls after them and mutters good riddance under his breath. Just as he turns around, he hears a timid voice speaking - "If you don't mind me asking... How did you know that person back there?" Heechul stills, but the door slams shut and the answer never reaches his ears.
When Heechul enters the kitchen after taking the orders of Youngwoon and that pale yet somehow ethereal friend of his, Hankyung leans against the counter and raises a brow at him. "If a certain bill passes this year?" Hankyung echoes, smile playing in the corner of his lips.
Heechul advances towards Hankyung, angelic smile on his face. "Yep. Unless, of course... You already plan to have me yours? That will only work if you're mine too, though." His voice and smile dip as the sentence ends, breath ghosting over Hankyung's lips before he claims those very lips. Hankyung's response is instinctual; arms folding around Heechul with familiar ease as he kisses back.
"You know I'm yours," Hankyung mumbles into the kiss and Heechul smiles, butterflies that feel alien in his stomach fluttering around anyway. He does not reply because there is no need to - Hankyung knows his answer to that statement anyway.
Later on, as Heechul nods goodbye to Youngwoon and Jungsu, he finds himself smiling. Youngwoon is a good person, and he can tell that Jungsu - who seems uncomfortable in his own skin and almost fragile - is perfect for Youngwoon. Cliché as it sounds, there is a light in Youngwoon's eyes that has not been there since his ex-girlfriend forgot about him.
He throws open the door to the kitchen with a smile and declares, "Let's close the place early today, I feel like going home." The curve of his lips suggests another meaning to that sentence.
Hankyung turns around with a confused frown. "Do I... know you?"
Heechul's smile fades even as he rolls his eyes, "Ha-ha, very funny. I'm not that easily taken in, Hankyung." He expects - and hopes for - Hankyung's familiar, abashed, 'you win' smile to appear, but all Hankyung does is stare at him with a bemused and questioning expression on his face. A trace of hesitation creeps into Heechul's voice. "Hankyung? It's not funny, okay? Did that creeper messenger of God kid get to you?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't seem to know you. Oh! Are you after that waiter's job? Unfortunately, it's tak-," Hankyung's shaky, Mandarin-accented Korean comes to a stop as he frowns to himself before shaking his head. "No, wait, I'm not myself today." He gives a laugh, before smiling warmly at Heechul. "I guess we'll start the interview now, then. Do you have any experience in being a waiter?"
Heechul stares at him, disbelief written plainly over his features. A flash of deja vu hits him, because this scene - Hankyung's shaky Korean and his way of conducting an interview in the kitchen - is almost exactly how Heechul had met him. Heechul's eyes narrow as he crosses the distance between them in a flash. His hands move up to cradle Hankyung's face just before his lips descend on Hankyung's. The kiss is forceful this time, with a tinge of desperation in it as he forces, wills and hopes Hankyung remembers. Hankyung pushes him away with disgust written plainly in his features. Heechul turns and runs.
He stumbles blindly out of the restaurant, unwanted tears clouding his vision even as he snaps at himself to get a grip. An almost gleeful and sly voice laughs at him from the back of his mind. I told you not to depend on anyone, didn't I? See where loving someone led you? He has forgotten about you! Heechul snarls and asks the voice to shut the fuck up, but all the voice does is cackle harder.
Without knowing it, Heechul manages to trip on a shoelace that has gone untied. He only realises it when he finds himself sprawled face down on the ground, dirt and rubble on his lips. None of the passer-by’s spare him a glance. They move around him, eyes averted as though they are unable to see him. Ten million people in the world and yet almost all of them go back to empty homes. He slowly gets up, dusting off the dirt from his hands. As he does so, he catches sight of an old photograph lying on the ground, dusty from shoeprints. Heechul looks away - and then does a double take. Is that him, in the picture? And beside him... that person who had claimed to know Heechul, the one whose disappointed face still lingers in Heechul's mind for some unknown reason. Behind them is a school, and they are in school uniforms.
Just then, warm and big hands take hold of the photograph. On instinct, Heechul reaches out to grab those hands with a, "That's mine!"
The hands still in surprise and when Heechul looks up, he stares right into the now-familiar, chocolate-brown eyes of Siwon, his childhood friend.
"You remember?" Siwon asks, surprise and disbelief and hope in his eyes. Heechul nods twice before a small sob betrays him and escapes from his mouth. Traitor, he remembers thinking even as Siwon's arms wrap around his shuddering frame, even as he clings onto Siwon's shirt like a lifeline, photograph between their hearts, even as Hankyung's face burns brighter in his mind.
The next day, Heechul wakes up in an unfamiliar setting. The bed sheets are red - did he finally manage to convince Hankyung to change the sheets? Then, he remembers the previous day's events. He feels the painful wrench of his heart and forces himself to stop thinking about it. Slowly, he gets out of the room. Siwon is already out, but there is a note on the dining table, written in cursive, elegant handwriting.
You'll probably wake up late and with a dreadful hangover, considering the amount of soju you drank last night. I made a hangover drink for you - it's in the fridge, and all you have to do is heat it up. Heechul, don't... don't think too much, all right? I'll be at the park if you're bored.
I won't forget you.
The last sentence is written in small handwriting, as though Siwon has deliberated over writing it. Somehow, it brings a smile to Heechul's lips. As he goes into the kitchen and heats up the drink, he stares out of the window and is met by the sea. He sees the waves crashing against the rocky shore, slowly eroding them. Rocks, he thinks all of a sudden, will continue being there for a long time, even when ten million dwindles to zero. As he continues staring, mesmerised, Heechul wonders where someone would go if he disappears. Would they appear in a place called Here? If everyone forgets about you, would you disappear? Or would you continue existing, drifting along, invisible?
His thoughts of how it would feel like if his body crashes against those rocks get interrupted by the shrill ringing from his cell phone.
Hankyung.
Later on, when he meets Hankyung, Heechul pretends to be unaffected by Hankyung forgetting him. He smacks Hankyung and warns him not to do it again with the usual cold tone in his voice, but Hankyung understands from Heechul's slightly red eyes that Heechul, he is just acting tough. He plays along and laughs with Heechul, promises not to forget him with a tender kiss placed on Heechul's forehead, the tip of his nose, his cheek, the corner of his lips...
When Heechul goes out to serve the customers, Hankyung hastily uses his cell phone to take photographs of Heechul - Heechul's rare smiles, Heechul's usual snark, Heechul, Heechul and more Heechul. He will not cause Heechul anymore hurt.
Siwon starts frequenting their restaurant often now that he is welcomed. He talks about God and Heaven and material possessions. He talks about warmth and humanity and pretends not to notice when Heechul strays closer to their table whenever he does so.
Jungsu begins working in their restaurant and Heechul loves the way he stutters, blushes and crashes into things whenever Heechul mentions the name 'Youngwoon'. While talking to Youngwoon as he waits for Jungsu to finish his shift, Heechul finds out that Jungsoo wrote a warning to himself about Heechul in his journal, and that only serves to crack him up more. He discovers that he likes this pale, unconfident boy even when he normally treats people of this nature with contempt.
"So, is the sex mind-blowing or something? Because you know, from the way he follows you around like a puppy and the way you wait for him to end his shift after work every day, it's almost as though the both of you are married," Heechul says conversationally as he opens the door to the kitchen.
Youngwoon splutters, blushes, and crashes into the door just as Jungsu drops the dish he is washing.
A few weeks later, he is dumping as many clothes as he can into his suitcase in preparation for the trip Hankyung is taking to China. Youngwoon teases him by saying Heechul is afraid of Hankyung forgetting him and not returning. He waves it off with a scoff and an arrogant smile, but deep inside he knows Youngwoon is right. He is unable to take Hankyung forgetting him a second time.
Then, Youngwoon mentions his sister.
On the highway to nowhere, Heechul rolls down the car windows and lets the wind blows his hair into disarray. He rests his feet on the dashboard and shoots a glance at Hankyung through his aviators. Thanks for coming with me, he says silently.
As if in response, Hankyung hand finds Heechul's. It's okay, is Hankyung's unvoiced answer.
We won't forget each other, Heechul says in his mind - although there is a questioning tilt to his sentence.
We won't, Hankyung replies without moving his lips.
"We won't," Heechul says aloud with conviction, nails digging into the back of Hankyung's hand. Hankyung shoots him a weird smile, but does not say anything otherwise.
They disappear into the highway as the wind engulfs them.
Meanwhile, Siwon takes a sip of coffee from the Han restaurant and fingers a photograph in front of him. A younger version of him is in there, together with an effeminate man, eyes bold with challenge as though he has the world in his fingertips. An empty stretch of desert spreads out behind them and Siwon wonders why are they wearing uniforms, wonders who is that man beside him, wonders how they met each other.
Slowly, the steam from his coffee clouds his vision, and Siwon disappears as well.
When Jungsu arrives at Siwon's usual table with a tray of food, he sees nobody there. All that is left are empty, still warm chairs and a negative photograph on the table, as though it has never really gotten past the development stage. He frowns, picks it up and sees two vaguely familiar figures in the photograph, but does not recognise them. Shrugging, he moves to throw the photograph away - before pocketing it, on a whim. Turning back to the kitchen, he spots Youngwoon there and flashes a dimpled grin at Youngwoon.
"Why isn't your restaurant named Kim Restaurant?" he asks, grin still on his face. "Is this Han person related to you?"