[B17] TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
Prompt Code: B17
Title: To the Ends of the Earth
Rating: pg-13
Side Pairings (if any): N/A
Warnings: Sad things, threat of gun violence
Word Count: 1,802
Summary: Kyungsoo has gone missing during a seemingly safe supply run, and Jongin is having no part of it. A six month journey has Jongin and his companions running all over South Korea in search of his lost boyfriend, and will their twentieth and final destination supply the group with the entity they're looking for?
AN: Ah! This was super duper fun to write. I'm a total geek for zombie apocalypse AU's so this was a no brainer. Even thought it's on the shorter side, I feel like it came out pretty good! I'd like to give out a big old thanks to the mods and my friends for putting up with me whining and obsessing over the tiniest details in the fic. Writing is a rollercoaster and I'm glad we all got through it safely! I hope you all enjoy it and make sure you give all the fics in the fest a good read, they deserve it! ♥
Mods Note: Some might be wondering as this has them in EXO. The prompt asked for it and as it is set in a post-apoc au, we allowed it to stay. We hope you guys understand. Please enjoy!
“I’ll be careful, I promise. I love you.”
Those were the last words Jongin heard his boyfriend say. They were spoken close to six months ago now, and Jongin was starting to forget how his voice sounded. And that, of course, only drove the former dancer into an even more heated panic to find his lover.
Exo swore to stay together through the apocalypse. The virus had hit South Korea a little over a year ago during a very busy promotion period for all nine boys, and naturally the managers had put each and every one of them into hiding. That method had worked for a while, until the weekly check-ups stopped, and the group had to then fend for themselves.
Kyungsoo had gone missing during a rather routine run to a nearby neighborhood in search of any food, clothes, or whatever else the other boys had missed in their prior searches. Jongin had been so adamant about not letting his partner go without him, but Yixing swore up and down that he wouldn’t let any harm come to him. But when the same boy came back alone, without a body and his eyes glued to the floor, Jongin never regretted a decision more in his entire life then that moment.
The last six months had been a constant search. Despite how bad all of the other members felt, only two had decided to tag along: Yixing, due to his own guilt, and Sehun, on account of his extreme cabin fever. Jongin had a running list of places to check, places he thought Kyungsoo might go, each one having been a significant place in the couple’s history.
1: Oakwood Premier Hotel in Incheon, South Korea.
“I don’t know, is it stupid, Sehun?”
Jongin and Sehun had been sequestered to their shared hotel room for the night, not necessarily by force, but because Jongin was in crippling need of his friend’s advice. The pair had been sitting next to each other on the small twin sized mattress for what seemed like hours now. Jongin had done his fair share of whining in the time passed, almost as much as Sehun had nodded with the smallest grunt to signal that he was still listening.
“If you want my honest opinion, Jongin-”
“And I do.”
“... then text him. Right now. Do you see the way he looks at you- on stage and off stage? He smiles when he sees you, man, he doesn’t do that with anyone else. And the only way you’re gonna find anything out if is you stop pussy footing around and ask him to talk to you.”
Just as the brunette had pulled the device off of the bedside table to follow through with the advice of his younger counterpart, the screen had illuminated before Jongin even had a chance to press a button.
Kyungsoo | 10:13 PM | I need to talk to you. Come to my room, please.
“I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t, Jongin, you’re not listening to me!”
Kyungsoo’s voice was painfully loud to the point where Jongin was forced to realize that the smaller male was… yelling at him. Tear stained, Kyungsoo’s hands came up to grab at the collar of the dancer’s shirt with a matching aggression to his voice.
“I fucking love you, Jongin. I don’t know how, or why, or anything- all I know is that I love you, and I want to be by your side for the rest of the time we have here on this miserable earth. Because when I’m with you--” A breath. “ .. when I’m with you, Jongin, it’s a little less miserable.”
And Jongin stood dumbfounded. There was no other word for the expression on his face than sheer shock, absolute confusion. Not because he didn’t feel the same way, but because he never once suspected Kyungsoo of harboring the same feelings, let alone be so adamant about telling him on a sweaty, over-tired, post-concert Friday night.
“Jongin, say something.”
“I.. I love you, too.”
Then it was Kyungsoo’s turn to look absolutely taken aback, and before the singer could even speak again, Jongin had taken it upon himself to bring their lips together in the sweetest first kiss he’d ever had.
2: Dalseong Park, Daegu, South Korea.
The sun cast an almost cotton-candy like color onto the sky above the treeline. Kyungsoo had tucked himself under Jongin’s much larger arm as the pair sat under one of many pavilions. But suddenly Jongin was crying. Not that loud, obnoxious, can barely breathe kind of crying, but rather that silent, barely noticeable soft sobbing.
Kyungsoo had noticed this right away, but nobody expected any less of the black haired male by this point. And with just a little bit of prodding, Jongin was finally poked at enough to speak.
“It’s just... I’m sorry I can’t take you out like this more often, that we have to hide our relationship, that you had to love me instead of some actress that you can flaunt and.. and take pictures with and kiss in public.” The words were said in a whisper, almost as if the dancer could barely form the syllables on his lips. The succeeding silence began to crawl on Jongin’s spine to the point where he started to shift on his provisional seat, but before he could make a significant move, Kyungsoo has claimed his new seat in his boyfriend’s lap with his own pair of watery eyes.
The couple had just stared at each other over their own personal wells for what seemed like too long of a minute before Kyungsoo’s quiet voice broke the silence. “I love you. Not some bubbly actress, not some other idol, nobody, Jongin. And if loving you means that I have to sneak around and cast everything we do off as a simple dinner run, then so be it, that’s something I’m willing to do in order to call you mine.” A single finger had come up to wipe the growing amount of water from the brunette’s eyes with a weak smile, and a kiss had been placed right in the middle of the same body’s forehead.
And Jongin could’ve sworn he had just been blessed with an angel in the flesh.
4: Olympic Gymnastics Arena, Seoul, South Korea.
Whether considered a couple or not, the fans always went crazy when the pair whispered to each other on stage. And not only did their managers both love and hate the chatter it caused, but Jongin enjoyed it a little too much. He had been in a personal competition with himself to see what exact phrase would cause Kyungsoo to crack on stage. All he wanted out of the smaller male was an uneven breath, the beginnings of a moan, something, anything, but Kyungsoo had never given him the satisfaction of anything more than a smile or a chuckle.
But the final speeches of the concert were coming to a close. The lineup of boys had now landed on Baekhyun, the third to last member to begin the practically routine round of thank you’s. And at this point, the dancer had leaned over to his partner with that same devious grin plastered on his face as he pulled the microphone from next to his lips to lay lazily against his collarbone.
He hadn’t remembered what exactly he said, but it had dragged Kyungsoo’s attention away from the fact that they were standing before hundreds- no, thousands of people long enough for him to let a chesty, half-lidded ‘fuck, Jongin’ from his lips and sink directly into the wired microphone before the pair. And he had quickly recognized his mistake after Sehun had burst out in forced laughter to try and cover up any of the echo that may have still lingered in the arena.
The list of locations went on all around South Korea.
4: The hotel room where Jongin and Kyungsoo first had sex.
5: The lakeside where Kyungsoo gave Jongin a promise ring.
6: The projected future apartment complex Kyungsoo had handpicked.
7: Every venue Jongin had dragged Kyungsoo to the dressing room bathroom to have sex in.
But the twentieth and final place hadn’t occurred to Jongin until he was grasping at straws for any clue that his boyfriend was still alive. And if you asked either of his travelling companions, he hadn’t shut up about the revelation in the three day trip it took the trio to get there. The diner where Kyungsoo insisted on eating in, regardless of whether or not it was Valentine’s Day.
Jongin had dragged the three men all the way there with promises of ‘this is the last one, I promise! He’ll be there!’ almost every hour, even once more in a hushed tone as their backs were pressed against the outside of the restaurant’s doors.
Being as adamant as he was about being right this time, Jongin was the first to enter the building. In typical zombie apocalypse fashion, the former dancer couldn’t go in guns blazing under the assumption that nobody was in there. Because as he and his friends had learned from past injury, most of these places harbored extremely hostile survivors. Just like this one did.
As Jongin turned to alert the other two that the place was hollow, the familiar click of a pistol rang in the somehow still brunette’s ears, forcing him to freeze.
“I don’t know who you are, but I have to ask you to leave.”
And normally, Jongin would’ve apologized and walked out the door right then. But the way the barrel of the pistol leaned just a bit down, as if the carrier was too short to reach the back of his head, the familiarity in the voice as it spoke.
“.. Kyungsoo?”
Now it was the aggressor’s turn to freeze. Jongin still hadn’t turned on account of the person behind him being mistakenly identified, or was just a little bit trigger happy. But the slow pull of the metal from the back of his head was more than enough to prompt the former dancer to turn and greet the frozen expression of his lover.
Even if he hadn’t seen his face in six months, it was the exact same face that left Exo’s shelter so many days ago. The same smiling face that promised his safe return. The same doe-like eyes. The same head of messy hair. The same lips that told Jongin that he loved him a million times in one night. The same jawline that Jongin would kiss every night before falling victim to his exhaustion.
And before the dancer could even speak again, Kyungsoo had taken it upon himself to bring their lips together in the sweetest first kiss he’d ever had.