Voodoo (gen, PG-13)
Title: Voodoo
Pairing: none
Rating: PG-13
Words: ~1000
Warnings: horror genre, brief but graphic description of a gross dead body
Summary: Sanghyuk spends a day with his friends.
Author's Note: Inspired by VIXX's new concept, particularly this picture as well as these tags from my girl Rachel. :*
Sanghyuk wakes to Hongbin stationed at his bedside, eyes fixed unblinking on his face. He can only remember vague snatches of his dream, full of darkness and the sound of screaming, but it fades into meaninglessness as he answers Hongbin’s dimples with his own bright smile. He loves waking up to Hongbin, so pretty and perfect Sanghyuk sometimes almost can’t believe the other boy is his friend.
“Did I worry you?" he asks, climbing out of bed and patting Hongbin's hand where it's clutched in the sheets (he thinks, not for the first time, that it’s the prettiest hand he’s ever seen). "Sorry for sleeping so long." The forgiving smile Hongbin offers him in return doesn't quite reach his eyes.
---
In the kitchen Taekwoon is propped up against the counter like he’s too exhausted to even stand on his own, so it’s a good thing Sanghyuk has breakfast down to a science. The coffee machine and toaster go off at almost exactly the same moment and he grins to himself for timing it so perfectly. He doesn’t even like coffee, of course, but it’s the only thing that will get Wonsik up in the mornings.
“C’mon, hey.” Mug in hand, he nudges the figure slumped over the table. “You can’t sleep all day. It’s Saturday, let’s all do something together!” There’s no response so he puts down the coffee, slips his hands under Wonsik’s armpits to haul him upright. Even in this position Wonsik’s head lolls, eyes closed and mouth slack; Sanghyuk figures he can let him rest a little longer.
He grabs his own plate and makes his way out to the living room where Hakyeon is sitting on the couch with a book open in his lap, remote in hand even though the TV is off. Sanghyuk snags it and flips to some old One Piece reruns. Hakyeon won’t mind.
Chopper coming onscreen reminds Sanghyuk that he hasn’t seen Jaehwan yet this morning, and he’s almost finished his breakfast anyway so he leaves the plate on the sidetable to pick up later. Hakyeon doesn’t react to his show of laziness - it must be a really good book, though if everyone’s just going to be this boring today maybe it’s a good thing he’s going to find Jaehwan after all.
---
As he pushes into the bathroom he’s still munching on the last bite of toast, which in retrospect may have been a mistake because the stench that slams out from the other side of the door almost has him gagging. “Jesus, Jaehwan,” he addresses the room’s only occupant, “it’s a good thing you’re already in the tub. You reek.” He laughs at his own joke; it’s not like Jaehwan is going to.
Poor Jaehwan. Sanghyuk looks him over, laid out in the bathtub staining the tile. He’d been Sanghyuk’s first attempt, before he’d really figured out what he was doing, and it shows. His eyes are crooked, nose too big for his face - Sanghyuk hadn’t yet learned how to match the proportions of pieces taken from different bodies, or even how to sew in a straight line. There’s a seam coming loose at his shoulder, and he’s leaking stuffing in several places where his flesh has rotted through.
Sanghyuk’s gotten a lot better, though. He thinks back to Hongbin, earlier this morning, and smiles. Hongbin is his latest, product of several cemeteries and one stranded hitchhiker with the prettiest hands Sanghyuk had ever seen reaching a thumb out in entreaty as his car passed, and the differences between him and Jaehwan serve only to highlight how much Sanghyuk has expanded his skillset. He’s particularly proud of Hongbin’s dimples; they’d taken hours of careful slicing and tiny stitches through individual layers of tissue, but it had been worth it. Hongbin is perfect.
And today he’s going to fix Jaehwan up as best he can. He pulls out his kit, flax and suture needles of all sizes and the new formaldehyde solution he’s spent the last few days mixing and remixing until he got the chemical balance just right. Jaehwan may not be as beautiful as Hongbin but he’ll always be special to Sanghyuk, and he deserves to look his best. Sanghyuk pushes up his sleeves and threads a needle.
---
When he emerges from the bathroom hours later, his plate is still on the sidetable and Hakyeon is still on the same spot in his book. As he picks the plate up he pats Hakyeon on the shoulder and turns the page for him, then wanders into the kitchen to drop the dirty dish in the sink. Wonsik looks ready to snore at any minute, so Sanghyuk drags Taekwoon over to the table, grunting and puffing under the weight, and sits him in the chair opposite, pulls Wonsik’s head upright so that he’s actually being civil. Taekwoon is stoic as ever, but at least they won’t be lonely while Sanghyuk takes a nap. Working on Jaehwan had gone well but taken longer than he’d expected, the damage greater than it seemed at first, and he’ll probably still have to go out for spare parts tomorrow.
For now, though, he’s content to stumble back to his bedroom, where Hongbin has toppled out of his seat and is laying on the floor with his limbs awkwardly spread about. He’s pretty even like this, but it still wouldn’t do for Sanghyuk to treat his friends so carelessly. Hongbin is easier to pick up than Taekwoon, the lightest of all them except maybe Hakyeon since Sanghyuk started buying that new stuffing, and it’s hardly a struggle to lift him back into the chair.
Sanghyuk arranges him carefully so that he doesn’t overbalance again in the night, peels his eyelids back from where they’ve fallen so that his gaze rests, unblinking, on the pillow where Sanghyuk will soon be asleep. He’s looking forward to more good dreams. He loves waking up to Hongbin.
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