[exo] the boy who waited
the boy who waited
exo, suho/d.o.
g, 1118w
doctor who (series 5) au. prompt: "all of time and space; everywhere and anywhere: every star that ever was. where do you want to start?"
Do Kyungsoo is seven years old when he first meets the guardian. There's a crack in his wall, and his aunt keeps saying she'll get the landlord to take a look at it, but there's voices coming from the other side and Kyungsoo needs it fixed now.
When he hears a knocking on the glass door of his balcony, he knows right away that it's the man who's come to fix it. He's skinny and not very tall, and his hair is streaked with bright red and falls in his eyes. His shirt and pants are torn up and he has a bit of soot on his pale face, but his smile is wide and makes his eyes crinkle up and when Kyungsoo sees it he feels like this is a man who can do anything.
"Are you the repairman?" he asks, and the man shakes his head.
"I'm the guardian," he says, but Kyungsoo hears it as I'm Suho.
Kyungsoo cooks him kimchi spaghetti in the tiny apartment kitchen: kimchi, noodles, canned sauce, and cheese. Suho eats it eagerly and says he's never had anything like it in his life. Kyungsoo says, "That must be a long time," and Suho laughs but doesn't answer.
When Kyungsoo shows him the crack he seems impressed. He scans it with something he calls a sonic screwdriver, and makes a long explanation of what he's looking at that's half to Kyungsoo and mostly to himself. All Kyungsoo catches is something about a tear in space and a dying universe on the other side of the crack.
"Behind my wall?" he asks incredulously.
"Behind your time," Suho replies. "Stand back."
He points the sonic screwdriver at the crack and it emits a high-pitched whine that makes Kyungsoo cover his ears. He watches with wide eyes as the crack opens up wide like a dark mouth, and he thinks he can see on the other side a big tree in the centre of a plain before the crack seals closed and vanishes. He waits and listens, and the voice is gone. Fixed.
Kyungsoo wants him to stay, to tell him more stories about dying universes and try more of his made-up recipes, but he says he has to go.
"Then I'll go with you," says Kyungsoo.
"I'll be back in five minutes. Don't you worry, Do Kyungsoo," he says, and it's not the firm, slightly bored voice his aunt uses to reassure him, but gentle and playful.
"But where are you going?" Kyungsoo asks, as Suho steps back out through the glass door. For the first time, he sees a big blue box sitting on his balcony that looks almost like a cabinet. "Please, take me with you."
"Five minutes," he says again, and smiles at him as he steps into the box. Kyungsoo watches as the box fades out of sight, until it disappears like the crack had.
He sits in the kitchen and watches the numbers turn on the stove's clock. One minute, two minutes, four minutes, ten minutes. After two hours his aunt comes home to find him sleeping at the table and carries him to bed.
In the morning, the blue box hasn't come back.
Do Kyungsoo is thirteen years old when he remembers the guardian. He's never forgotten about him, really. In the middle of cleaning his room, he finds his old school notebooks, filled with marker drawings of a red-haired man who travels through dying universes in a blue cabinet and fixes them with his sonic screwdriver. His teachers had told him he had a fantastic imagination, and laughed when he insisted it was real.
He wishes he could do the same, pretend Suho never existed, that his memories aren't real but a dream. It's been six years and he still hasn't come back, not to help him fight bullies or to do his homework or even to sit with him at the kitchen table and talk.
There's posters all over Kyungsoo's bedroom walls now, except for one that he's left untouched. He tells himself it's because it's in an awkward position, that he doesn't have enough posters for every wall. Sometimes he has to dare himself to touch it, expecting his fingers to pass through the pale yellow paint or for the pressure to cause the whole thing to ripple and fracture and suck him through to the other side.
But the wall is cold and solid under his fingertips, and whole. Real.
Sometimes, even though he's probably forgotten about Kyungsoo entirely, Kyungsoo still hears his voice, light and calm: Don't you worry, Do Kyungsoo. I'll be back. And sometimes when he sits at the kitchen table looking out at the balcony, he counts the minutes in his head, one to five over and over again, waiting for the moment when his five turns into a blue box and a man with a big smile who can fix anything.
Do Kyungsoo is nineteen years old when the guardian comes back. His face is the same, but cleaner, and his red-streaked hair falls neatly across his forehead. He's wearing a blue jacket that sparkles a little and black pants with lots of pockets. They're the same height now.
"You're late," says Kyungsoo, and he crosses his arms, because it feels like his heart is going to burst through his chest.
"I know. I'm sorry," says Suho, and it's not exactly the voice Kyungsoo remembers. He likes it better. "But I came back for you."
"But you're just going to leave again." They're standing outside the gosiwon where Kyungsoo lives now, all he can afford with a part-time job as a singing telegram. The blue box is right beside them, as if it's Suho's pet, or maybe a part of him. "That's what you do, right? You go somewhere, you fix things, and then you leave."
"Not if you come with me," he says, and when Kyungsoo looks into his eyes, clear and bright, he knows he's sincere.
He crosses his arms tighter. "Come with you? Where?"
"Anywhere. Any planet, any star, any time. You name it." He smiles at Kyungsoo, and even though his face is cleaner it's the same smile he's always had, wide and kind and capable. "Where do you want to start?"
Kyungsoo looks up at the building to where his room is. The light is already off, and he locked the door behind him when he came down. He looks back to Suho, at the face that he remembers but from another angle. He seems stronger now, quieter and sadder. Kyungsoo wonders what he's been doing for the past twelve years.
"Right here," he says, and he steps forward towards Suho. "Right now."
one day i will write something longer than 1000 words. suho and kyungsoo inside the tardis fyt
exo, suho/d.o.
g, 1118w
doctor who (series 5) au. prompt: "all of time and space; everywhere and anywhere: every star that ever was. where do you want to start?"
Do Kyungsoo is seven years old when he first meets the guardian. There's a crack in his wall, and his aunt keeps saying she'll get the landlord to take a look at it, but there's voices coming from the other side and Kyungsoo needs it fixed now.
When he hears a knocking on the glass door of his balcony, he knows right away that it's the man who's come to fix it. He's skinny and not very tall, and his hair is streaked with bright red and falls in his eyes. His shirt and pants are torn up and he has a bit of soot on his pale face, but his smile is wide and makes his eyes crinkle up and when Kyungsoo sees it he feels like this is a man who can do anything.
"Are you the repairman?" he asks, and the man shakes his head.
"I'm the guardian," he says, but Kyungsoo hears it as I'm Suho.
Kyungsoo cooks him kimchi spaghetti in the tiny apartment kitchen: kimchi, noodles, canned sauce, and cheese. Suho eats it eagerly and says he's never had anything like it in his life. Kyungsoo says, "That must be a long time," and Suho laughs but doesn't answer.
When Kyungsoo shows him the crack he seems impressed. He scans it with something he calls a sonic screwdriver, and makes a long explanation of what he's looking at that's half to Kyungsoo and mostly to himself. All Kyungsoo catches is something about a tear in space and a dying universe on the other side of the crack.
"Behind my wall?" he asks incredulously.
"Behind your time," Suho replies. "Stand back."
He points the sonic screwdriver at the crack and it emits a high-pitched whine that makes Kyungsoo cover his ears. He watches with wide eyes as the crack opens up wide like a dark mouth, and he thinks he can see on the other side a big tree in the centre of a plain before the crack seals closed and vanishes. He waits and listens, and the voice is gone. Fixed.
Kyungsoo wants him to stay, to tell him more stories about dying universes and try more of his made-up recipes, but he says he has to go.
"Then I'll go with you," says Kyungsoo.
"I'll be back in five minutes. Don't you worry, Do Kyungsoo," he says, and it's not the firm, slightly bored voice his aunt uses to reassure him, but gentle and playful.
"But where are you going?" Kyungsoo asks, as Suho steps back out through the glass door. For the first time, he sees a big blue box sitting on his balcony that looks almost like a cabinet. "Please, take me with you."
"Five minutes," he says again, and smiles at him as he steps into the box. Kyungsoo watches as the box fades out of sight, until it disappears like the crack had.
He sits in the kitchen and watches the numbers turn on the stove's clock. One minute, two minutes, four minutes, ten minutes. After two hours his aunt comes home to find him sleeping at the table and carries him to bed.
In the morning, the blue box hasn't come back.
Do Kyungsoo is thirteen years old when he remembers the guardian. He's never forgotten about him, really. In the middle of cleaning his room, he finds his old school notebooks, filled with marker drawings of a red-haired man who travels through dying universes in a blue cabinet and fixes them with his sonic screwdriver. His teachers had told him he had a fantastic imagination, and laughed when he insisted it was real.
He wishes he could do the same, pretend Suho never existed, that his memories aren't real but a dream. It's been six years and he still hasn't come back, not to help him fight bullies or to do his homework or even to sit with him at the kitchen table and talk.
There's posters all over Kyungsoo's bedroom walls now, except for one that he's left untouched. He tells himself it's because it's in an awkward position, that he doesn't have enough posters for every wall. Sometimes he has to dare himself to touch it, expecting his fingers to pass through the pale yellow paint or for the pressure to cause the whole thing to ripple and fracture and suck him through to the other side.
But the wall is cold and solid under his fingertips, and whole. Real.
Sometimes, even though he's probably forgotten about Kyungsoo entirely, Kyungsoo still hears his voice, light and calm: Don't you worry, Do Kyungsoo. I'll be back. And sometimes when he sits at the kitchen table looking out at the balcony, he counts the minutes in his head, one to five over and over again, waiting for the moment when his five turns into a blue box and a man with a big smile who can fix anything.
Do Kyungsoo is nineteen years old when the guardian comes back. His face is the same, but cleaner, and his red-streaked hair falls neatly across his forehead. He's wearing a blue jacket that sparkles a little and black pants with lots of pockets. They're the same height now.
"You're late," says Kyungsoo, and he crosses his arms, because it feels like his heart is going to burst through his chest.
"I know. I'm sorry," says Suho, and it's not exactly the voice Kyungsoo remembers. He likes it better. "But I came back for you."
"But you're just going to leave again." They're standing outside the gosiwon where Kyungsoo lives now, all he can afford with a part-time job as a singing telegram. The blue box is right beside them, as if it's Suho's pet, or maybe a part of him. "That's what you do, right? You go somewhere, you fix things, and then you leave."
"Not if you come with me," he says, and when Kyungsoo looks into his eyes, clear and bright, he knows he's sincere.
He crosses his arms tighter. "Come with you? Where?"
"Anywhere. Any planet, any star, any time. You name it." He smiles at Kyungsoo, and even though his face is cleaner it's the same smile he's always had, wide and kind and capable. "Where do you want to start?"
Kyungsoo looks up at the building to where his room is. The light is already off, and he locked the door behind him when he came down. He looks back to Suho, at the face that he remembers but from another angle. He seems stronger now, quieter and sadder. Kyungsoo wonders what he's been doing for the past twelve years.
"Right here," he says, and he steps forward towards Suho. "Right now."
one day i will write something longer than 1000 words. suho and kyungsoo inside the tardis fyt