Away (2/?)
Title: Away ; chapter 2
Fandom/Pairing: Super Junior, f(x) ; Heechul/Hankyung
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Heechul's gotten himself into something tangled, he just knows it. Life away from former expectations was supposed to be easier, but so far things are still just complicated.
Note: this one ended up a lot longer than the first chapter. and i made unactivist look it over like last time, lol i get so nervous about chaptered fics. thank you, bb!
Word count: 3396
Chapter 2;
Roads
-
"Hyung-ow-there's a reason I put a band-aid there," Kyuhyun hissed when the skin-colored adhesive pulled at the outer edge of his scab. Hankyung roughed up the boy's hair and continued, half-ignoring the tiny noises of pain. Heechul almost didn't want to watch, didn't want to see the damage that'd been done to this kid.
The kid, he'd learned, was a fifteen-year-old named Kyuhyun, and Kyuhyun liked three things: video games, singing, and making snide comments whenever he could. Fifteen minutes (so far) of sitting in a diner between the second oldest hyung of the family and the little one could do that to him. He'd learned all that he figured to be necessary. Hey, he knew all their names now.
"Well," Hankyung pulled out a new band-aid from his pocket (although colored orange this time) and replaced Kyuhyun's older one. "There's a reason I'm putting a new one on."
"You baby him," Heechul noted.
Hankyung laughed and put his arm around Henry's shoulders. "I do this for all of them, haven't you noticed by now?"
"I've only known you for a few hours."
"Your point?"
Heechul shrugged and started up a new idea. "By the way, is this even legal?"
"Is what legal? - Kyuhyun stop picking at it," that paternal hand flew over to the younger boy, moving his hand away from the part of his shoulder that held his wound.
"The fact that you piled all these kids in your car and they aren't yours. Isn't that called kidnapping?"
"No," Hankyung chuckled, pushing Kyuhyun's hand back onto the diner table again.
"We've gone on trips with Hankyung-oppa before," Sulli spoke up once she'd pulled her lips away from her glass of milk. "Umma might just think we're going on another trip."
"Which is exactly what it's supposed to look like," Hankyung smiled, seeming to congratulate the youngest for understanding before the other adult.
"You are a kidnapper," Heechul feigned shock, and received a balled up straw wrapper thrown that tapped his neck. And he could've sworn that Donghae was glaring at him out of the corner of his eye-his suspicion of it was only heightened when Hankyung gave Donghae a drop it kind of look. "So, Hankyung, do you just keep band-aids and the like in your pockets?"
"It's a habit from spending seven years in that house."
Sulli kicked her legs back and forth, they just barely touched the floor. Henry twitched a little bit, and Donghae sighed. Kyuhyun kept drinking his root beer and it was then that he started to mess with his Gameboy. Everything suddenly felt awkward, and Heechul felt as if Hankyung's eyes would never leave his face. He wasn't sure if it was something he liked, and the unsure feeling left Heechul rather uncomfortable.
"You're a strange one, Hankyung."
"Speak for yourself, you were the one practically skipping on the side of the road."
"I was celebrating. And hey, you're kidnapping children."
Donghae threw Heechul another glare, except this time was different in the fact that it was oh so noticeable. Heechul looked right back at him, and the teenager leaned back against the window, eyes averted. "Kid, can't you take a joke?" Heechul nearly snapped.
Hankyung's voice softened and hardened at the same time. "Hey, don't yell at him."
"I wasn't yelling," Heechul sighed and face forward again, but he had a feeling that wouldn't be enough. Reluctantly, the word came out. "Sorry."
"S'okay," Donghae said, folding his hands together on the table.
"You kid around a lot," Hankyung laughed, thanking the waitress when she brought over their food, putting them in front of the exact person and leaving with a charming grin. Just like she was supposed to. He was suddenly taken back, a brief flashback, and Heechul could almost see it in his eyes. "Guys, excuse me for a minute, okay?"
But before Heechul had enough time to make any kind of remark, Henry jumped out of his seat to allow Hankyung exit access. And the young man was gone in a flash, around the corner towards the bathroom, his phone clenched hard in his hand.
"What's got to him?"
"He need to call his mom, probably," said Kyuhyun, never looking up from his game. "She worries, and he worries."
"And his mom isn't your mom."
"None of our moms are the same," Henry added, sitting back down across from Sulli. Heechul watched him put a french fry in his mouth, add a few of his others to Sulli's plate, and the little one bounced in her seat.
He'd only been with this weird-and as he'd just learned, unrelated-family for four hours. Three hours and forty minutes of that time had been spend driving, the other twenty at that house that Hankyung couldn't seem to get away from fast enough once he had Kyuhyun with him. Within the three hours, forty minute change, the names had been exchanged of course. They all knew his name now, and Hankyung had noted that Sulli wasn't usually one to take to strangers; she didn't like them, yet she liked Heechul. She even said it herself.
Sulli was a girl of nine, albeit a tad tall for her age, and she was the friendliest one in the bunch. Probably as friendly as Hankyung, the one who'd let him into their car-practically into their lives. After all, it'd be hard to detach himself from the foreshadowed drama, and Heechul noticed this of course. There wasn't much he figured that could do about it except pretend to be an innocent bystander when potential disaster might strike.
Henry was the second youngest, Heechul learned, and the resident violinist. When they'd loaded out of the car, Henry had lingered just a few seconds to take off his jacket and cover his instrument case. Sulli had said something teasing about Henry being neurotic about his violin's safety. The kid was thirteen, and for the most part, pretty quiet in the car. He tapped his fingers along to the song emitting from the radio, though, and Heechul thought maybe he heard some additional humming.
Kyuhyun came next, just a year older than Henry. All the boys, Heechul noted, were clumped together in age, it seemed. Sulli was left at the far end, stamped as the baby of the group. Kyuhyun was the kind to not talk unless he had something witty (and somewhat irksome) to remark in response to what Sulli or Donghae or Heechul said. He didn't do it so much with Hankyung, or Henry. Henry had been too quiet in the car for Heechul to notice a pattern in Kyuhyun interactions.
Heechul sipped some coffee, the cup that he and Hankyung somehow decided to share. He wasn't sure how they'd come to that agreement. Perhaps the need to save money had lifted it's repulsive head. His eyes flickered to Donghae, the last one.
Donghae was sixteen. A full-fledged teenager in his prime, not quite an adult but not completely a kid-yet he was still a kid to Heechul. And his attitude seemed to depict it well, just enough moodiness came through, despite his polite outside form. But when with Sulli and the others in the back seat, he was all cuddles and smiles. Heechul figured it must've been the kidnapping remarks that earned him Donghae glares.
Sulli spoke again. "Oppa," she leaned over and reached for Donghae. "Oppa, I miss Krystal."
He touched her hand quickly. "Shh," Heechul watched Donghae shake his head and look briefly at Kyuhyun, whose jaw had gone tight mid-game. His eyes had gone stony as they stared into the virtual world in his palms.
"But, I miss her," she kept going, squirming around and her face began to twist into what Heechul assumed was a warning for tears. "I miss her," she stressed. Kyuhyun's grip on his game tightened, tension heightening for as long as Sulli kept speaking, kept saying the same thing. Heechul was at a loss for what to do. Henry bit his lip and Donghae looked to him for help, so he gently pulled Sulli out of her seat and walked her off. The tension in Kyuhyun's hands didn't die down for another thirty seconds. Heechul felt as if he'd been witnessing the Cold War in little-girl-versus-teen form. As weird as it sounded.
"Who's Krystal?"
Kyuhyun had it by then, even when his hands had unclenched before. He slammed the game down on the table, shaking it a little.
"Yah, just because Hankyung isn't here doesn't mean you can act like a brat."
"Just because Hankyung isn't around doesn't mean you can act like him," Kyuhyun shot back.
"YAH-"
"Where'd Henry and Sulli go?"
Heechul looked up from his seat, into Hankyung's concerned eyes. Worry was flowing rapidly through them, and Heechul would've been able to tell even if he hadn't peered at him directly. Out of reflex, he made a move to answer. "Henry-"
"Brought her outside for a second," Donghae pointed out the glass at Henry wiping at Sulli's eyes with his sleeve. He must've just spotted them there. "She was getting upset, and she just…"
"Okay," Hankyung sighed and bit his lip, already understanding as if Donghae didn't need to finish. "I should go talk to her. Heechul, stay here with the boys?"
In his head, Heechul laughed. Hankyung made it sound like they were married with kids. They'd just met.
"Like I have a choice."
"…You kind of do."
"Oh, go see the little girl," Heechul waved his hand. Hankyung just didn't get his joke, he guessed, that if he refused then Heechul would be out of a place to sleep that night. But nope, Hankyung didn't get it.
But still, in a way, it wasn't a joke.
Kyuhyun laid his head down the the table, resting over his lanky arms, his food half-finished and pushed aside. Heechul watched Donghae pat the younger boy on the head and say, "It'll get better soon, Kyu. It will."
And Kyuhyun didn't answer.
It was slightly different when they piled back into the car. Heechul no longer claimed the passenger's seat like most adults should when traveling, Kyuhyun had claimed it. And when Heechul wanted to object, Hankyung had gone soft with Kyuhyun and allowed the switch, leading to a not-so-happy Heechul. But somehow he forced himself to comply and squish in with the kids in the backseat.
Sulli ended up in his lap about halfway to their next stop, her face snuggled against his neck, thin arms attaching herself to him, she was like a baby koala, latched on. It wasn't particularly safe, but he'd buckled them both into the same seat. And it was the better alternative to shoving Henry in the trunk like Hankyung had obviously joked about, and everyone had understood. Sure, so they all understand when he cracks a joke.
In the front, Hankyung and Kyuhyun were talking. Well, not so much talking, and more like almost mumbling at each other. And when Heechul made his best surreptitious attempt to listen, all he got was a mixture of Korean and Mandarin. Mostly the latter. And like hell Heechul understood what was going on.
Then again, he did hear the name Krystal. Once or twice.
Sulli pulled herself closer.
-
Heechul caught himself staring at Hankyung at the next rest stop, when Heechul had come back from the bathroom and found Donghae holding a water bottle in his direction. Apparently it was for him, so he should take it-and so he did. Heechul stood by the open car door and crouched down slightly, sipping on his water and casually watching Hankyung examine Henry's wrists. He saw Kyuhyun walking Sulli back from the bathroom when he glanced into the side mirror.
His eyes came back to Hankyung, and he was staring again. Stopping seemed like a good option, so he looked down at his shoes instead. Those slightly worn, red and dusty converse shoes that he's practically lived in for the past several months. Kibum's name was written messily at the curve of his toes, on the right shoe.
That kid. Heechul clicked his tongue and capped the water bottle, glancing once more at Hankyung before back at the name of an old friend. That kid was really something. Heechul missed him, thought about him, thought about calling him now. Then he thought again. All Kibum would do amounted to telling Heechul's family where he'd gone. Because Kibum was a good boy.
It wasn't like Heechul really felt like digging through his unfolded clothes to find his cell phone anyway. Too much effort.
Heechul was pulled out of his train of thought when Hankyung announced their departure again. Sulli crawled back onto Heechul's lap, and drifted off. He felt as if he'd already melted into a routine, despite the fact that they've only done this once before. But he put the seatbelt around them both again.
The car started once more, flying out over the road ahead of them. And the weight of Sulli's head on his shoulder was starting to morph into something comforting, something he didn't mind.
-
Later that night, they stopped and slept at a hotel. A small one, their third rest stop, and it was already getting dark. Donghae carried Sulli on his back as they walked into the building and asked for only one room. Sure, the woman at the desk gave them weird looks, but money was money and business was money so she handed the key over to Hankyung. And they all went up together.
There were two beds, yet neither of them were that large in size. Of course it was determined already that Sulli and Henry would at least get to sleep in the beds, because apparently seniority worked backwards in this family. Heechul pursed his lips and tried to just accept it.
They let Heechul shower first, and for that he was thankful. He let the hot water pass over him and he tried his best to let the liquid take away his old cares. Laughing at himself as he rinsed his soapy hair, he said inside his head that something like that wasn't possible. Water wasn't that strong. Heechul needed something better.
He contemplated. No, the peach body wash provided for him in the smallest container known to man, courtesy of the motel staff, wasn't going to help. So he cleared his body of all suds and climbed out, slipping new underwear and whatever pajama pants he'd packed and his same t-shirt from that day over his damp torso. It was this way that he left the bathroom, Kyuhyun dashing in as soon as he'd crossed the threshold. And the door nearly clipped Heechul's hand in the process.
Sulli was passed out on the bed, Henry was the same only with his arm around her, and Donghae was in a corner (headphones over his ears, seeming to be dancing to the music that came from them). Hankyung however was sitting at the foot of the second bed and crossing his arms over his chest while peering at boring evening television, blank in the face. There had to be something better, on some other channel perhaps, but the remote remained untouched and behind Hankyung. Heechul pulled out a comb from his bag and detangled whatever was left to free from knots, sitting at Hankyung's empty side.
"So, what do you do for a living?" he asked, wincing when he tugged a bit too hard.
Hankyung finally tore his eyes from the screen. "I take care of my family, I go to school, and I work at a dance studio part-time."
"You any good?"
"At?"
He resisted any smart comments that skipping around in his mind. "Dancing. Are you any good?"
"I suppose."
Heechul chuckled. "Are you or are you not?"
"He is," Henry suddenly mumbled, half-asleep.
"Hey," Heechul turned around. "Eavesdropping is rude," but he soon realized that the boy was already lost to another round of sleep. And Hankyung was laughing, quietly. Donghae was still dancing in his own world.
"Donghae goes to the studio where I started working," Hankyung lowered his voice, in case Donghae were to hear, perhaps. "He's been a student for years."
"That how you met him?"
"Yeah," Hankyung glanced over at the dancing boy for a fleeting second. "Everything was a little bit happier then."
"Nothing was perfect, though."
"When is anything perfect, Heechul?" he laughed.
"Exactly," Heechul pinched the droplets at the tip of his hair.
Hankyung crossed one leg over another, then picked up the remote and muted the TV. "So, what about you?"
"What about me?"
"What you do. For a living."
"I escape my parents so I don't have to live a life of a boring robot for the rest of my days," he said, as casually as if he were reciting the alphabet.
"You're running, too?"
"You could say that. I just ran away, though. Well, it's the first time I've done it since third grade. Running away should never be done when you're eight years old, Hankyung. It just shouldn't."
"I'm guessing you traumatized yourself?"
"Good guess. I couldn't worrk up the courage to do anything until high school, but then that kid messed it up," Heechul huffed, now playing with the hem of his t-shirt.
"What kid?"
"This son of those producers. You know, the famous husband and wife match. The one who's in all the movies these days. Last name Kim."
"Oh, yeah. Wait, what did he have to do with you?"
"My parents said he was a good friend for me. And they were right, we were friends. I think it was their plan all along. They wanted me to get close to him so that I wouldn't leave him. I couldn't do it. I was in my second year of high school, I had my bags packed, I was ready to slip out, but then Kibum called me. That damn Kibum."
What Hankyung wanted to know was how Heechul managed to even know someone as famous. Now didn't seem like the time to ask, though. "Do you not like him?"
"I like him, I love that kid. I do," Heechul shrugged, suddenly wondering why he was pouring all this out in front of Hankyung, pouring out potential weaknesses. And doing that could never end well, he'd learned. Kibum was his weakness, but maybe the fact that his parents already knew meant that telling anyone else wouldn't do a single speck of damage. "But Kibum is my parents' card for getting me to stick around, you know? Eh, too bad I could never be a good boy like him."
"Why exactly are you running?"
"Didn't you hear me the first time? Escaping my parents," and then he added, "I don't wanna be a fucking lawyer."
"They want you to be one?"
"No," Heechul rolled his eyes. "They want me to be an astronaut."
"Jeez, I was just asking."
"And I'm just answering," Heechul patted him on the shoulder. "That's why. But I finally worked up the confidence to do it, to leave."
"Oh."
"That's my story. Any questions?" Heechul stood up and headed for his bag.
"Nope, but if I have any, I know where to find you. Unless you sneak out in the middle of the night."
"I have no plans for that. Hey, I've got nowhere else to go. And other than the grumpy sixteen-year-old in the corner and the angsty one in the shower, I've been shown some good hospitality."
"That's good to hear," he paused. "And about Donghae and Kyuhyun, for now don't mind them. They're just going through tough times. They'll get better."
"Hm," Heechul nodded, agreeing with the first part at least. He pulled his cell phone out.
His eyes darted back and forth from Donghae to Heechul. "I'll talk to them if they don't."
Five messages from Kibum. As he glanced just barely over each of them, he saw Hankyung moving out of the corner of his eye.
"Hey," Hankyung suddenly called out to him again as he pulled a blanket over the two sleeping children. "Can I ask you another question?"
"Might as well, while we're at it," Heechul sat on the floor and kept scrolling through his phone. Ten from his mother.
"Do you have any regrets?"
One from Heejin.
His reply was absent-minded in its nature. "Not really."
None from his father.
--
hm, dinner time. brb for more fic spammage after i've stuffed my face. sometimes i forget to eat, so when we make family events out of them, i actually eat normally, lol.
Fandom/Pairing: Super Junior, f(x) ; Heechul/Hankyung
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Heechul's gotten himself into something tangled, he just knows it. Life away from former expectations was supposed to be easier, but so far things are still just complicated.
Note: this one ended up a lot longer than the first chapter. and i made unactivist look it over like last time, lol i get so nervous about chaptered fics. thank you, bb!
Word count: 3396
Chapter 2;
Roads
-
"Hyung-ow-there's a reason I put a band-aid there," Kyuhyun hissed when the skin-colored adhesive pulled at the outer edge of his scab. Hankyung roughed up the boy's hair and continued, half-ignoring the tiny noises of pain. Heechul almost didn't want to watch, didn't want to see the damage that'd been done to this kid.
The kid, he'd learned, was a fifteen-year-old named Kyuhyun, and Kyuhyun liked three things: video games, singing, and making snide comments whenever he could. Fifteen minutes (so far) of sitting in a diner between the second oldest hyung of the family and the little one could do that to him. He'd learned all that he figured to be necessary. Hey, he knew all their names now.
"Well," Hankyung pulled out a new band-aid from his pocket (although colored orange this time) and replaced Kyuhyun's older one. "There's a reason I'm putting a new one on."
"You baby him," Heechul noted.
Hankyung laughed and put his arm around Henry's shoulders. "I do this for all of them, haven't you noticed by now?"
"I've only known you for a few hours."
"Your point?"
Heechul shrugged and started up a new idea. "By the way, is this even legal?"
"Is what legal? - Kyuhyun stop picking at it," that paternal hand flew over to the younger boy, moving his hand away from the part of his shoulder that held his wound.
"The fact that you piled all these kids in your car and they aren't yours. Isn't that called kidnapping?"
"No," Hankyung chuckled, pushing Kyuhyun's hand back onto the diner table again.
"We've gone on trips with Hankyung-oppa before," Sulli spoke up once she'd pulled her lips away from her glass of milk. "Umma might just think we're going on another trip."
"Which is exactly what it's supposed to look like," Hankyung smiled, seeming to congratulate the youngest for understanding before the other adult.
"You are a kidnapper," Heechul feigned shock, and received a balled up straw wrapper thrown that tapped his neck. And he could've sworn that Donghae was glaring at him out of the corner of his eye-his suspicion of it was only heightened when Hankyung gave Donghae a drop it kind of look. "So, Hankyung, do you just keep band-aids and the like in your pockets?"
"It's a habit from spending seven years in that house."
Sulli kicked her legs back and forth, they just barely touched the floor. Henry twitched a little bit, and Donghae sighed. Kyuhyun kept drinking his root beer and it was then that he started to mess with his Gameboy. Everything suddenly felt awkward, and Heechul felt as if Hankyung's eyes would never leave his face. He wasn't sure if it was something he liked, and the unsure feeling left Heechul rather uncomfortable.
"You're a strange one, Hankyung."
"Speak for yourself, you were the one practically skipping on the side of the road."
"I was celebrating. And hey, you're kidnapping children."
Donghae threw Heechul another glare, except this time was different in the fact that it was oh so noticeable. Heechul looked right back at him, and the teenager leaned back against the window, eyes averted. "Kid, can't you take a joke?" Heechul nearly snapped.
Hankyung's voice softened and hardened at the same time. "Hey, don't yell at him."
"I wasn't yelling," Heechul sighed and face forward again, but he had a feeling that wouldn't be enough. Reluctantly, the word came out. "Sorry."
"S'okay," Donghae said, folding his hands together on the table.
"You kid around a lot," Hankyung laughed, thanking the waitress when she brought over their food, putting them in front of the exact person and leaving with a charming grin. Just like she was supposed to. He was suddenly taken back, a brief flashback, and Heechul could almost see it in his eyes. "Guys, excuse me for a minute, okay?"
But before Heechul had enough time to make any kind of remark, Henry jumped out of his seat to allow Hankyung exit access. And the young man was gone in a flash, around the corner towards the bathroom, his phone clenched hard in his hand.
"What's got to him?"
"He need to call his mom, probably," said Kyuhyun, never looking up from his game. "She worries, and he worries."
"And his mom isn't your mom."
"None of our moms are the same," Henry added, sitting back down across from Sulli. Heechul watched him put a french fry in his mouth, add a few of his others to Sulli's plate, and the little one bounced in her seat.
He'd only been with this weird-and as he'd just learned, unrelated-family for four hours. Three hours and forty minutes of that time had been spend driving, the other twenty at that house that Hankyung couldn't seem to get away from fast enough once he had Kyuhyun with him. Within the three hours, forty minute change, the names had been exchanged of course. They all knew his name now, and Hankyung had noted that Sulli wasn't usually one to take to strangers; she didn't like them, yet she liked Heechul. She even said it herself.
Sulli was a girl of nine, albeit a tad tall for her age, and she was the friendliest one in the bunch. Probably as friendly as Hankyung, the one who'd let him into their car-practically into their lives. After all, it'd be hard to detach himself from the foreshadowed drama, and Heechul noticed this of course. There wasn't much he figured that could do about it except pretend to be an innocent bystander when potential disaster might strike.
Henry was the second youngest, Heechul learned, and the resident violinist. When they'd loaded out of the car, Henry had lingered just a few seconds to take off his jacket and cover his instrument case. Sulli had said something teasing about Henry being neurotic about his violin's safety. The kid was thirteen, and for the most part, pretty quiet in the car. He tapped his fingers along to the song emitting from the radio, though, and Heechul thought maybe he heard some additional humming.
Kyuhyun came next, just a year older than Henry. All the boys, Heechul noted, were clumped together in age, it seemed. Sulli was left at the far end, stamped as the baby of the group. Kyuhyun was the kind to not talk unless he had something witty (and somewhat irksome) to remark in response to what Sulli or Donghae or Heechul said. He didn't do it so much with Hankyung, or Henry. Henry had been too quiet in the car for Heechul to notice a pattern in Kyuhyun interactions.
Heechul sipped some coffee, the cup that he and Hankyung somehow decided to share. He wasn't sure how they'd come to that agreement. Perhaps the need to save money had lifted it's repulsive head. His eyes flickered to Donghae, the last one.
Donghae was sixteen. A full-fledged teenager in his prime, not quite an adult but not completely a kid-yet he was still a kid to Heechul. And his attitude seemed to depict it well, just enough moodiness came through, despite his polite outside form. But when with Sulli and the others in the back seat, he was all cuddles and smiles. Heechul figured it must've been the kidnapping remarks that earned him Donghae glares.
Sulli spoke again. "Oppa," she leaned over and reached for Donghae. "Oppa, I miss Krystal."
He touched her hand quickly. "Shh," Heechul watched Donghae shake his head and look briefly at Kyuhyun, whose jaw had gone tight mid-game. His eyes had gone stony as they stared into the virtual world in his palms.
"But, I miss her," she kept going, squirming around and her face began to twist into what Heechul assumed was a warning for tears. "I miss her," she stressed. Kyuhyun's grip on his game tightened, tension heightening for as long as Sulli kept speaking, kept saying the same thing. Heechul was at a loss for what to do. Henry bit his lip and Donghae looked to him for help, so he gently pulled Sulli out of her seat and walked her off. The tension in Kyuhyun's hands didn't die down for another thirty seconds. Heechul felt as if he'd been witnessing the Cold War in little-girl-versus-teen form. As weird as it sounded.
"Who's Krystal?"
Kyuhyun had it by then, even when his hands had unclenched before. He slammed the game down on the table, shaking it a little.
"Yah, just because Hankyung isn't here doesn't mean you can act like a brat."
"Just because Hankyung isn't around doesn't mean you can act like him," Kyuhyun shot back.
"YAH-"
"Where'd Henry and Sulli go?"
Heechul looked up from his seat, into Hankyung's concerned eyes. Worry was flowing rapidly through them, and Heechul would've been able to tell even if he hadn't peered at him directly. Out of reflex, he made a move to answer. "Henry-"
"Brought her outside for a second," Donghae pointed out the glass at Henry wiping at Sulli's eyes with his sleeve. He must've just spotted them there. "She was getting upset, and she just…"
"Okay," Hankyung sighed and bit his lip, already understanding as if Donghae didn't need to finish. "I should go talk to her. Heechul, stay here with the boys?"
In his head, Heechul laughed. Hankyung made it sound like they were married with kids. They'd just met.
"Like I have a choice."
"…You kind of do."
"Oh, go see the little girl," Heechul waved his hand. Hankyung just didn't get his joke, he guessed, that if he refused then Heechul would be out of a place to sleep that night. But nope, Hankyung didn't get it.
But still, in a way, it wasn't a joke.
Kyuhyun laid his head down the the table, resting over his lanky arms, his food half-finished and pushed aside. Heechul watched Donghae pat the younger boy on the head and say, "It'll get better soon, Kyu. It will."
And Kyuhyun didn't answer.
It was slightly different when they piled back into the car. Heechul no longer claimed the passenger's seat like most adults should when traveling, Kyuhyun had claimed it. And when Heechul wanted to object, Hankyung had gone soft with Kyuhyun and allowed the switch, leading to a not-so-happy Heechul. But somehow he forced himself to comply and squish in with the kids in the backseat.
Sulli ended up in his lap about halfway to their next stop, her face snuggled against his neck, thin arms attaching herself to him, she was like a baby koala, latched on. It wasn't particularly safe, but he'd buckled them both into the same seat. And it was the better alternative to shoving Henry in the trunk like Hankyung had obviously joked about, and everyone had understood. Sure, so they all understand when he cracks a joke.
In the front, Hankyung and Kyuhyun were talking. Well, not so much talking, and more like almost mumbling at each other. And when Heechul made his best surreptitious attempt to listen, all he got was a mixture of Korean and Mandarin. Mostly the latter. And like hell Heechul understood what was going on.
Then again, he did hear the name Krystal. Once or twice.
Sulli pulled herself closer.
-
Heechul caught himself staring at Hankyung at the next rest stop, when Heechul had come back from the bathroom and found Donghae holding a water bottle in his direction. Apparently it was for him, so he should take it-and so he did. Heechul stood by the open car door and crouched down slightly, sipping on his water and casually watching Hankyung examine Henry's wrists. He saw Kyuhyun walking Sulli back from the bathroom when he glanced into the side mirror.
His eyes came back to Hankyung, and he was staring again. Stopping seemed like a good option, so he looked down at his shoes instead. Those slightly worn, red and dusty converse shoes that he's practically lived in for the past several months. Kibum's name was written messily at the curve of his toes, on the right shoe.
That kid. Heechul clicked his tongue and capped the water bottle, glancing once more at Hankyung before back at the name of an old friend. That kid was really something. Heechul missed him, thought about him, thought about calling him now. Then he thought again. All Kibum would do amounted to telling Heechul's family where he'd gone. Because Kibum was a good boy.
It wasn't like Heechul really felt like digging through his unfolded clothes to find his cell phone anyway. Too much effort.
Heechul was pulled out of his train of thought when Hankyung announced their departure again. Sulli crawled back onto Heechul's lap, and drifted off. He felt as if he'd already melted into a routine, despite the fact that they've only done this once before. But he put the seatbelt around them both again.
The car started once more, flying out over the road ahead of them. And the weight of Sulli's head on his shoulder was starting to morph into something comforting, something he didn't mind.
-
Later that night, they stopped and slept at a hotel. A small one, their third rest stop, and it was already getting dark. Donghae carried Sulli on his back as they walked into the building and asked for only one room. Sure, the woman at the desk gave them weird looks, but money was money and business was money so she handed the key over to Hankyung. And they all went up together.
There were two beds, yet neither of them were that large in size. Of course it was determined already that Sulli and Henry would at least get to sleep in the beds, because apparently seniority worked backwards in this family. Heechul pursed his lips and tried to just accept it.
They let Heechul shower first, and for that he was thankful. He let the hot water pass over him and he tried his best to let the liquid take away his old cares. Laughing at himself as he rinsed his soapy hair, he said inside his head that something like that wasn't possible. Water wasn't that strong. Heechul needed something better.
He contemplated. No, the peach body wash provided for him in the smallest container known to man, courtesy of the motel staff, wasn't going to help. So he cleared his body of all suds and climbed out, slipping new underwear and whatever pajama pants he'd packed and his same t-shirt from that day over his damp torso. It was this way that he left the bathroom, Kyuhyun dashing in as soon as he'd crossed the threshold. And the door nearly clipped Heechul's hand in the process.
Sulli was passed out on the bed, Henry was the same only with his arm around her, and Donghae was in a corner (headphones over his ears, seeming to be dancing to the music that came from them). Hankyung however was sitting at the foot of the second bed and crossing his arms over his chest while peering at boring evening television, blank in the face. There had to be something better, on some other channel perhaps, but the remote remained untouched and behind Hankyung. Heechul pulled out a comb from his bag and detangled whatever was left to free from knots, sitting at Hankyung's empty side.
"So, what do you do for a living?" he asked, wincing when he tugged a bit too hard.
Hankyung finally tore his eyes from the screen. "I take care of my family, I go to school, and I work at a dance studio part-time."
"You any good?"
"At?"
He resisted any smart comments that skipping around in his mind. "Dancing. Are you any good?"
"I suppose."
Heechul chuckled. "Are you or are you not?"
"He is," Henry suddenly mumbled, half-asleep.
"Hey," Heechul turned around. "Eavesdropping is rude," but he soon realized that the boy was already lost to another round of sleep. And Hankyung was laughing, quietly. Donghae was still dancing in his own world.
"Donghae goes to the studio where I started working," Hankyung lowered his voice, in case Donghae were to hear, perhaps. "He's been a student for years."
"That how you met him?"
"Yeah," Hankyung glanced over at the dancing boy for a fleeting second. "Everything was a little bit happier then."
"Nothing was perfect, though."
"When is anything perfect, Heechul?" he laughed.
"Exactly," Heechul pinched the droplets at the tip of his hair.
Hankyung crossed one leg over another, then picked up the remote and muted the TV. "So, what about you?"
"What about me?"
"What you do. For a living."
"I escape my parents so I don't have to live a life of a boring robot for the rest of my days," he said, as casually as if he were reciting the alphabet.
"You're running, too?"
"You could say that. I just ran away, though. Well, it's the first time I've done it since third grade. Running away should never be done when you're eight years old, Hankyung. It just shouldn't."
"I'm guessing you traumatized yourself?"
"Good guess. I couldn't worrk up the courage to do anything until high school, but then that kid messed it up," Heechul huffed, now playing with the hem of his t-shirt.
"What kid?"
"This son of those producers. You know, the famous husband and wife match. The one who's in all the movies these days. Last name Kim."
"Oh, yeah. Wait, what did he have to do with you?"
"My parents said he was a good friend for me. And they were right, we were friends. I think it was their plan all along. They wanted me to get close to him so that I wouldn't leave him. I couldn't do it. I was in my second year of high school, I had my bags packed, I was ready to slip out, but then Kibum called me. That damn Kibum."
What Hankyung wanted to know was how Heechul managed to even know someone as famous. Now didn't seem like the time to ask, though. "Do you not like him?"
"I like him, I love that kid. I do," Heechul shrugged, suddenly wondering why he was pouring all this out in front of Hankyung, pouring out potential weaknesses. And doing that could never end well, he'd learned. Kibum was his weakness, but maybe the fact that his parents already knew meant that telling anyone else wouldn't do a single speck of damage. "But Kibum is my parents' card for getting me to stick around, you know? Eh, too bad I could never be a good boy like him."
"Why exactly are you running?"
"Didn't you hear me the first time? Escaping my parents," and then he added, "I don't wanna be a fucking lawyer."
"They want you to be one?"
"No," Heechul rolled his eyes. "They want me to be an astronaut."
"Jeez, I was just asking."
"And I'm just answering," Heechul patted him on the shoulder. "That's why. But I finally worked up the confidence to do it, to leave."
"Oh."
"That's my story. Any questions?" Heechul stood up and headed for his bag.
"Nope, but if I have any, I know where to find you. Unless you sneak out in the middle of the night."
"I have no plans for that. Hey, I've got nowhere else to go. And other than the grumpy sixteen-year-old in the corner and the angsty one in the shower, I've been shown some good hospitality."
"That's good to hear," he paused. "And about Donghae and Kyuhyun, for now don't mind them. They're just going through tough times. They'll get better."
"Hm," Heechul nodded, agreeing with the first part at least. He pulled his cell phone out.
His eyes darted back and forth from Donghae to Heechul. "I'll talk to them if they don't."
Five messages from Kibum. As he glanced just barely over each of them, he saw Hankyung moving out of the corner of his eye.
"Hey," Hankyung suddenly called out to him again as he pulled a blanket over the two sleeping children. "Can I ask you another question?"
"Might as well, while we're at it," Heechul sat on the floor and kept scrolling through his phone. Ten from his mother.
"Do you have any regrets?"
One from Heejin.
His reply was absent-minded in its nature. "Not really."
None from his father.
--
hm, dinner time. brb for more fic spammage after i've stuffed my face. sometimes i forget to eat, so when we make family events out of them, i actually eat normally, lol.