[Fanfiction] Hanchul, and everything comes to an end.
Title: and everything comes to an end.
Fandom: Super Junior
Pairing: Hankyung/Heechul
Rating: PG
Word count: 2200
Notes: Happy Birthday black_goose! You already know that this fic is for you because I couldn't keep my mouth shut, but, omg, I really hope you're going to like it. I love you so much ♥
The house is silent. Heechul moves forward, one step, two steps, up, down, up, down. His shoes make crunching noises on the gravel walk, wet from the rain that has started to come down minutes ago. The darkness surrounds Heechul, swallows him, makes him invisible. He moves forward a bit more and stops in front of the house's entrance door.
The rain comes down harder when Heechul raises his hand to knock on the sleek black door even though he knows there is no need to knock. The house is empty. It is empty, there are no lights, it is empty. It is silent and dark, and no one has lived in it for years.
Heechul's hand slides along the surface of the door. It is cold and wet, but his fingers are warm. He sighs, turns around and wonders why he has come here today.
The black gate at the end of the gravel walk waits for Heechul to pass through- it's standing there, huge and silent, the rain blasting against it as if it were a shield made of iron. Heechul looks up when he stops in front of it and his right hand curls around one of the cold bars. Coming back really hasn't been a good idea.
Heechul pushes the gate open. It makes a squeaking sound that breaks through the night, but Heechul honestly doesn't care if he wakes someone in the neighbourhood. He just wants to get away from here as fast and as soon as possible.
The rain doesn't stop as Heechul turns around and starts following the empty main road. He doesn't know where he's going to stay overnight, maybe at a cheap hotel somewhere near this area or at one of the huge bus stations in town- he doesn't have much money anyway.
Heechul's train of thought comes to a halt when a distant sound breaks the silence around him. He turns around and stares at the spot where a lone lit street lamp jitters in the darkness; a bike suddenly speeds past, the person on it hunched over the wheel like an old man. It looks like it burst out of the darkness, coming from nowhere as it slows down to stop next to Heechul and splashes water everywhere.
The bicyclist steps to the side, pulls of his helmet and turns around to face Heechul with a tired smile, his eyes dancing brightly. He's young, Heechul thinks and takes a step forward, probably younger than me; and then the boy reaches out to grasp his hand, and it's wet and warm and wonderful.
"Where are you heading to?" the boy asks. "You look lost."
"I was heading back downtown," Heechul says and tries to smile. "I visited some relatives and ... you know, I told them I'd walk."
The boy hums and raises an eyebrow in disbelief, but he doesn't say anything.
"I was heading downtown, too, so ...,” he mumbles after a while and looks at Heechul questioningly. The boy then pushes his helmet into Heechul's hands and points over his shoulder. "Need a ride?"
Heechul smirks and puts the helmet on. It drips water onto his already wet face as he loops his fingers through the fastener, but he doesn’t really mind.
"Sure."
*
The ride downtown takes more than an hour and Heechul is soaked to the skin and chilled to the bone when they stop at a lone gas station to fetch some drinks. The sun still hasn't risen, but the rain has stopped a few minutes ago. Heechul dismounts the bike and stretches out, feeling cold and tired and lost.
It isn't a big surprise that they are the only ones on the road around that hour, not counting the old man working at the gas station. Heechul taps his fingers against the helmet he's still wearing, watching the still nameless boy who hasn't spoken to him since meeting Heechul an hour ago. He wonders why he has offered him a ride, considering the fact that Heechul would've droven past if he had seen a stranger in the same situation he had been in.
He shakes his head and rubs his numb hands together, but the expected warmth doesn't start to creep through his fingers.
"I think my hands died off," he says when the boy steps out of the gas station's shop, holding two cans of coffee in his gloved hands. He laughs and hands Heechul the darker can, the one with extra sugar. A cartoon figure looks up at Heechul, its eyes sparkling while it raises the exact same can of coffee Heechul is holding above its head.
"Coffee for kids?" Heechul asks and raises an eyebrow. The boy laughs again, his teeth white and shiny. "It was the only one that had an extra amount of sugar in it. You said you don't like the 'usual' kind."
It is the first time Heechul notices the slight accent in the boy's voice and he brushes a strand of hair aside to look at him out of the corner of his eyes. The boy is taller than him and as thin as a stick. His brown hair falls over his eyes, and his skin is pale and smooth. Handsome, Heechul thinks, as the boy opens his coffee can, but not as good-looking as I am.
"How old are you?" he then asks as he opens his own can, the coffee nearly spilling out of its vessel.
The boy raises an eyebrow and smiles. "Is my age more interesting than my name?"
Heechul rolls his eyes and nudges the boy's leg with his sneakered foot. "Twenty-four," he answers and takes a sip from his coffee, "probably older than you are, right?"
"I don't know if this was supposed to be a compliment," Heechul begins and smirks, "but I'm sorry to say that I'm already twenty-five." The boy raises an eyebrow when Heechul leans forward, his hand extended and a smile on his face. "I'm Heechul. Nice to meet you."
The boy smiles when he grabs Heechul's hand, still as warm as it was before they rode through the rain.
"Hankyung," he says while staring into Heechul's eyes. "I’m Hankyung."
*
Hankyung, Heechul soon figures, is the most interesting person he's ever met in his life. If he thinks about this twice, though, interesting may not be the right word to describe a person like Hankyung, carefree, all white teeth and shiny eyes and smiling faces. Different, Heechul would say, in case someone ever plans to ask.
Hankyung never asks Heechul why he has been there that night, never asks him where he's coming from, what he's doing in the country. Hankyung never asks anything, but at the same time he seems to ask a million questions which Heechul can't and wouldn't answer. Hankyung is all white teeth and shiny eyes and smiling faces, and he talks about dreams and the future, things Heechul has already long-forgotten.
They share a room at some cheap motel that night. It's 4:34 am when Heechul sits down on his bed and stares out of the dusty window, down onto the road. His wet clothes are lying on the floor next to him and Heechul wonders if they'll ever fully dry. It has rained a lot in Korea lately.
Hankyung lies next to him on the same bed, staring at the ceiling and talking about a place Heechul has never heard of before. If he had ever been there before? No, I've never gone away from where I'm coming from. And I never will. Hankyung sits up and looks at him, his eyes dark and big, and then he reaches out and touches Heechul's back, and he sighs and melts into the touch.
Isn't it embarrassing to be comforted by a stranger?
*
The sun doesn't rise that morning, not in theory. It rains when they step out of their room, but Heechul tells Hankyung that he doesn't care and they hit the road.
"Where are we headed?" Hankyung asks after some time, when Heechul clutches tighter onto his jacket to not loose balance. The wind is cold and biting, and rain droplets drip against Heechul's helmet.
"I don’t know," Heechul answers honestly, and Hankyung doesn't stop pedalling, "I really don't know." It is weird, he then thinks as he stares at the back of Hankyung's head as if trying to look inside, it is weird to follow someone who doesn't know where he's going. And Heechul presses his face into Hankyung's back and closes his eyes and starts to dream again.
*
Heechul only knows Hankyung's name and age, but deep inside he knows everything about him. Heechul knows Hankyung since two days, but it feels like a century, days turning into weeks into months into years. Hankyung laughs and Heechul's sun has risen, Hankyung talks and Heechul's life has been written down into a thick, old book with yellowed sites and smudged ink.
"Where are you coming from?" Heechul asks on the third day, right after they've moved into the room of their third motel.
"Me?" Hankyung asks, as if there were a third person in the room. "From nowhere."
Heechul hums. Maybe Hankyung doesn't want to talk about this. "And your bike? You must've had a starting point."
"I'm travelling the world," Hankyung says and smiles, and there it is again, the smile that reaches his eyes, his bright and friendly eyes, deep like the ocean, bright like the sun. Your world must be small, Heechul doesn't say and closes his eyes.
He doesn't tell Hankyung where he's coming from. He doesn't tell Hankyung that he used to live in the house that is now dark and silent, because there are no lights and no one has lived in it for years. He doesn't tell Hankyung that he lost his parents when he was five, twenty years ago, but he has the feeling that Hankyung already knows everything about him. It is weird, Heechul thinks, as he bites into the sandwich he has bought at their last stop, it is weird to know someone who you don't really know.
*
They decide to sleep under a bridge on their fifth night together because the rain has finally stopped and the air is mild and dry. Hankyung leans his bike against the old, dirty brick wall and runs to the stream that glimmers in the setting sun.
"Come on!" he yells, and beckons Heechul over to join him. The water is cold and wets Heechul's trousers because he doesn't have enough time to turn them up before Hankyung pushes him into the stream. He coughs and splutters when he surfaces, but he can't be mad, he can't start complaining, not when he sees Hankyung standing at the waterside with a huge smile on his face.
The sky is burning and the stars start shining, and Heechul begins to dream again.
"Have you ever thought about the future?" Hankyung asks when they lie on their backs next to the stream, out of breath, clothes wet. The back of his hand touches Heechul's and only the stars know that they're both smiling.
"No," Heechul admits and blinks. "No."
"Is it like being stuck in the present?" Hankyung asks, and it feels like he's now pushing the million questions over to Heechul. But he's careful and gentle and caring.
"No," Heechul answers. "It's more like being stuck in the past."
Hankyung's kiss tastes of hope and promise and Hankyung. Heechul doesn't dare to touch him, because he's too scared that he'll burn Hankyung. He melts into his touch, sinks into his scent, and doesn't want to wake up again.
I don't want to let go of my past, he does tell Hankyung, but he has the feeling that Hankyung already knows everything about him.
Would you let go of it for me?, Hankyung asks, but Heechul has the feeling that he already knows the answer to that question.
*
Heechul wakes up the next morning to tweeting birds and rushing water, and Hankyung is gone.
*
Heechul moves forward, one step, two steps, up, down, up, down. His shoes make crunching noises on the sandy ground, dry from the sun that's burning down onto the riverside. He has cried buckets of tears, sealed deep inside of him, because Heechul would never admit that it hurts. His clothes are still wet from weeks ago, weeks that have actually been a day, when the boy with the white teeth and shiny eyes and all smiling faces has pushed him into the stream where Heechul drowned and never surfaced.
Heechul pushes the bike forward that Hankyung has left behind (maybe he thought I wanted to escape) and he sweats tears and pain which the sun can't swallow.
There's an old man sitting at a lone and deserted bus stop when Heechul reaches the main road, and he turns around when he hears the bike's squeaking tyres.
"Where are you heading to?" he asks and raises one grey eyebrow, the shadow of his hat falling over his eyes.
Heechul looks up.
"I'm travelling the world."
Fandom: Super Junior
Pairing: Hankyung/Heechul
Rating: PG
Word count: 2200
Notes: Happy Birthday black_goose! You already know that this fic is for you because I couldn't keep my mouth shut, but, omg, I really hope you're going to like it. I love you so much ♥
The house is silent. Heechul moves forward, one step, two steps, up, down, up, down. His shoes make crunching noises on the gravel walk, wet from the rain that has started to come down minutes ago. The darkness surrounds Heechul, swallows him, makes him invisible. He moves forward a bit more and stops in front of the house's entrance door.
The rain comes down harder when Heechul raises his hand to knock on the sleek black door even though he knows there is no need to knock. The house is empty. It is empty, there are no lights, it is empty. It is silent and dark, and no one has lived in it for years.
Heechul's hand slides along the surface of the door. It is cold and wet, but his fingers are warm. He sighs, turns around and wonders why he has come here today.
The black gate at the end of the gravel walk waits for Heechul to pass through- it's standing there, huge and silent, the rain blasting against it as if it were a shield made of iron. Heechul looks up when he stops in front of it and his right hand curls around one of the cold bars. Coming back really hasn't been a good idea.
Heechul pushes the gate open. It makes a squeaking sound that breaks through the night, but Heechul honestly doesn't care if he wakes someone in the neighbourhood. He just wants to get away from here as fast and as soon as possible.
The rain doesn't stop as Heechul turns around and starts following the empty main road. He doesn't know where he's going to stay overnight, maybe at a cheap hotel somewhere near this area or at one of the huge bus stations in town- he doesn't have much money anyway.
Heechul's train of thought comes to a halt when a distant sound breaks the silence around him. He turns around and stares at the spot where a lone lit street lamp jitters in the darkness; a bike suddenly speeds past, the person on it hunched over the wheel like an old man. It looks like it burst out of the darkness, coming from nowhere as it slows down to stop next to Heechul and splashes water everywhere.
The bicyclist steps to the side, pulls of his helmet and turns around to face Heechul with a tired smile, his eyes dancing brightly. He's young, Heechul thinks and takes a step forward, probably younger than me; and then the boy reaches out to grasp his hand, and it's wet and warm and wonderful.
"Where are you heading to?" the boy asks. "You look lost."
"I was heading back downtown," Heechul says and tries to smile. "I visited some relatives and ... you know, I told them I'd walk."
The boy hums and raises an eyebrow in disbelief, but he doesn't say anything.
"I was heading downtown, too, so ...,” he mumbles after a while and looks at Heechul questioningly. The boy then pushes his helmet into Heechul's hands and points over his shoulder. "Need a ride?"
Heechul smirks and puts the helmet on. It drips water onto his already wet face as he loops his fingers through the fastener, but he doesn’t really mind.
"Sure."
*
The ride downtown takes more than an hour and Heechul is soaked to the skin and chilled to the bone when they stop at a lone gas station to fetch some drinks. The sun still hasn't risen, but the rain has stopped a few minutes ago. Heechul dismounts the bike and stretches out, feeling cold and tired and lost.
It isn't a big surprise that they are the only ones on the road around that hour, not counting the old man working at the gas station. Heechul taps his fingers against the helmet he's still wearing, watching the still nameless boy who hasn't spoken to him since meeting Heechul an hour ago. He wonders why he has offered him a ride, considering the fact that Heechul would've droven past if he had seen a stranger in the same situation he had been in.
He shakes his head and rubs his numb hands together, but the expected warmth doesn't start to creep through his fingers.
"I think my hands died off," he says when the boy steps out of the gas station's shop, holding two cans of coffee in his gloved hands. He laughs and hands Heechul the darker can, the one with extra sugar. A cartoon figure looks up at Heechul, its eyes sparkling while it raises the exact same can of coffee Heechul is holding above its head.
"Coffee for kids?" Heechul asks and raises an eyebrow. The boy laughs again, his teeth white and shiny. "It was the only one that had an extra amount of sugar in it. You said you don't like the 'usual' kind."
It is the first time Heechul notices the slight accent in the boy's voice and he brushes a strand of hair aside to look at him out of the corner of his eyes. The boy is taller than him and as thin as a stick. His brown hair falls over his eyes, and his skin is pale and smooth. Handsome, Heechul thinks, as the boy opens his coffee can, but not as good-looking as I am.
"How old are you?" he then asks as he opens his own can, the coffee nearly spilling out of its vessel.
The boy raises an eyebrow and smiles. "Is my age more interesting than my name?"
Heechul rolls his eyes and nudges the boy's leg with his sneakered foot. "Twenty-four," he answers and takes a sip from his coffee, "probably older than you are, right?"
"I don't know if this was supposed to be a compliment," Heechul begins and smirks, "but I'm sorry to say that I'm already twenty-five." The boy raises an eyebrow when Heechul leans forward, his hand extended and a smile on his face. "I'm Heechul. Nice to meet you."
The boy smiles when he grabs Heechul's hand, still as warm as it was before they rode through the rain.
"Hankyung," he says while staring into Heechul's eyes. "I’m Hankyung."
*
Hankyung, Heechul soon figures, is the most interesting person he's ever met in his life. If he thinks about this twice, though, interesting may not be the right word to describe a person like Hankyung, carefree, all white teeth and shiny eyes and smiling faces. Different, Heechul would say, in case someone ever plans to ask.
Hankyung never asks Heechul why he has been there that night, never asks him where he's coming from, what he's doing in the country. Hankyung never asks anything, but at the same time he seems to ask a million questions which Heechul can't and wouldn't answer. Hankyung is all white teeth and shiny eyes and smiling faces, and he talks about dreams and the future, things Heechul has already long-forgotten.
They share a room at some cheap motel that night. It's 4:34 am when Heechul sits down on his bed and stares out of the dusty window, down onto the road. His wet clothes are lying on the floor next to him and Heechul wonders if they'll ever fully dry. It has rained a lot in Korea lately.
Hankyung lies next to him on the same bed, staring at the ceiling and talking about a place Heechul has never heard of before. If he had ever been there before? No, I've never gone away from where I'm coming from. And I never will. Hankyung sits up and looks at him, his eyes dark and big, and then he reaches out and touches Heechul's back, and he sighs and melts into the touch.
Isn't it embarrassing to be comforted by a stranger?
*
The sun doesn't rise that morning, not in theory. It rains when they step out of their room, but Heechul tells Hankyung that he doesn't care and they hit the road.
"Where are we headed?" Hankyung asks after some time, when Heechul clutches tighter onto his jacket to not loose balance. The wind is cold and biting, and rain droplets drip against Heechul's helmet.
"I don’t know," Heechul answers honestly, and Hankyung doesn't stop pedalling, "I really don't know." It is weird, he then thinks as he stares at the back of Hankyung's head as if trying to look inside, it is weird to follow someone who doesn't know where he's going. And Heechul presses his face into Hankyung's back and closes his eyes and starts to dream again.
*
Heechul only knows Hankyung's name and age, but deep inside he knows everything about him. Heechul knows Hankyung since two days, but it feels like a century, days turning into weeks into months into years. Hankyung laughs and Heechul's sun has risen, Hankyung talks and Heechul's life has been written down into a thick, old book with yellowed sites and smudged ink.
"Where are you coming from?" Heechul asks on the third day, right after they've moved into the room of their third motel.
"Me?" Hankyung asks, as if there were a third person in the room. "From nowhere."
Heechul hums. Maybe Hankyung doesn't want to talk about this. "And your bike? You must've had a starting point."
"I'm travelling the world," Hankyung says and smiles, and there it is again, the smile that reaches his eyes, his bright and friendly eyes, deep like the ocean, bright like the sun. Your world must be small, Heechul doesn't say and closes his eyes.
He doesn't tell Hankyung where he's coming from. He doesn't tell Hankyung that he used to live in the house that is now dark and silent, because there are no lights and no one has lived in it for years. He doesn't tell Hankyung that he lost his parents when he was five, twenty years ago, but he has the feeling that Hankyung already knows everything about him. It is weird, Heechul thinks, as he bites into the sandwich he has bought at their last stop, it is weird to know someone who you don't really know.
*
They decide to sleep under a bridge on their fifth night together because the rain has finally stopped and the air is mild and dry. Hankyung leans his bike against the old, dirty brick wall and runs to the stream that glimmers in the setting sun.
"Come on!" he yells, and beckons Heechul over to join him. The water is cold and wets Heechul's trousers because he doesn't have enough time to turn them up before Hankyung pushes him into the stream. He coughs and splutters when he surfaces, but he can't be mad, he can't start complaining, not when he sees Hankyung standing at the waterside with a huge smile on his face.
The sky is burning and the stars start shining, and Heechul begins to dream again.
"Have you ever thought about the future?" Hankyung asks when they lie on their backs next to the stream, out of breath, clothes wet. The back of his hand touches Heechul's and only the stars know that they're both smiling.
"No," Heechul admits and blinks. "No."
"Is it like being stuck in the present?" Hankyung asks, and it feels like he's now pushing the million questions over to Heechul. But he's careful and gentle and caring.
"No," Heechul answers. "It's more like being stuck in the past."
Hankyung's kiss tastes of hope and promise and Hankyung. Heechul doesn't dare to touch him, because he's too scared that he'll burn Hankyung. He melts into his touch, sinks into his scent, and doesn't want to wake up again.
I don't want to let go of my past, he does tell Hankyung, but he has the feeling that Hankyung already knows everything about him.
Would you let go of it for me?, Hankyung asks, but Heechul has the feeling that he already knows the answer to that question.
*
Heechul wakes up the next morning to tweeting birds and rushing water, and Hankyung is gone.
*
Heechul moves forward, one step, two steps, up, down, up, down. His shoes make crunching noises on the sandy ground, dry from the sun that's burning down onto the riverside. He has cried buckets of tears, sealed deep inside of him, because Heechul would never admit that it hurts. His clothes are still wet from weeks ago, weeks that have actually been a day, when the boy with the white teeth and shiny eyes and all smiling faces has pushed him into the stream where Heechul drowned and never surfaced.
Heechul pushes the bike forward that Hankyung has left behind (maybe he thought I wanted to escape) and he sweats tears and pain which the sun can't swallow.
There's an old man sitting at a lone and deserted bus stop when Heechul reaches the main road, and he turns around when he hears the bike's squeaking tyres.
"Where are you heading to?" he asks and raises one grey eyebrow, the shadow of his hat falling over his eyes.
Heechul looks up.
"I'm travelling the world."