+ Where The Heart Is (The Tired Of Waiting Remix) [2PM]
Title: Where The Heart Is (The Tired Of Waiting Remix)
Rating: PG-13 (language, mild sexual scene. :O)
Characters: Nichkhun/Wooyoung, minor Taecyeon
Word Count: ~2360
Author's Notes: AU. Remix of redroll's fic, Waiting, written for kpop_ficmix.
Summary: Nichkhun should probably be a lot more annoyed than he ever is, but then Wooyoung will punch him and he'll drape himself all over Wooyoung in revenge and they won't move away for a long time, probably too long, and by then Nichkhun will have forgotten everything except Wooyoung's warmth.
+
It's freezing in Korea, so when Nichkhun moves into Mrs Bae's old apartment, not only is he scared, worried and confused and trying to ignore it, but more cold than he has ever been in his life.
Admittedly, being in a foreign country is never really all that hard for him, because all he has to do is smile and people will do almost anything for him-teach him customs, forgive him for his mistakes, buy him things-but he can barely speak the language and he misses his family and he's never been all alone before. He's always had someone to come home to, someone who knows him and sees past the cute and clueless foreigner act, someone he can actually talk to for longer than thirty seconds. Having no-one is a new experience for him, and he doesn't like it at all.
Having someone to help him pack up would certainly be nice, too, he thinks as he surveys the mess in his lounge room, not to mention someone to figure out how to turn on the ancient heater.
He's just debating between giving up and going to bed or finishing his cleaning straight away-he knows what he should do, because his parents were just those types of people, but now that he's away from them he almost feels like being rebellious-but when he hears someone outside he immediately takes up the distraction.
He dashes to the front door but then stops suddenly because-what does he think he's going to do? Unless this very Korean-looking dude miraculously knows English or Thai, they're not going to get very far. "Um," he attempts, trying very very hard to will the proper words to him, "I'm new neighbour?"
The dude blinks at him.
Well. That's as good a start as any, he supposes.
+
There's a little bit of a miracle at work, Nichkhun suspects, when he learns that Korean dude's name is Wooyoung and he just happens to go to the same high school he's enrolled in, because what are the chances?
And then he discovers that the only ice-cream flavour he has in the freezer just happens to be Wooyoung's favourite, and he knows it's fate.
+
He supposes it's lucky he's so good with languages, because otherwise he'd be pretty much screwed. The writing aspect of everything still goes right over his head, but at least he seems to be making slow progress with his speech. Wooyoung helps him sometimes, on their way to and from school, a routine they established on the first day after Nichkhun couldn't figure out how to do up his tie and then Wooyoung dropped his books in the gutter and almost got run over.
Nichkhun hasn't invited him inside again, not since the first day they shared ice cream, but only because he gets the feeling Wooyoung isn't the type of person to move that fast-Wooyoung is cautious and careful, sometimes biting, always witty, and he seems to need time to come to terms with the fact that he's opening himself up to Nichkhun, little by little. Nichkhun realised after the first half-hour that they were going to be best friends, but Wooyoung obviously needs to come to that inevitable conclusion himself.
In order to aid these thought processes, Nichkhun takes to spending as much time as possible at Wooyoung's-not because his every movement echoes in the emptiness of his apartment and he'd rather not have the time alone to obsess about his family. Not at all.
Whatever the case, they play games and they wrestle and they talk and they sometimes do homework and after a short time, Wooyoung's company becomes one of the most important aspects of his life.
Nichkhun thinks-hopes?-that it's the same for Wooyoung, too.
+
Nichkhun discovers unreasonably quickly that growing up is extremely, exceptionally overrated. He's seriously going throw himself at his mother's feet when he sees her next, because he's ashamed to admit that he never quite realized how much was involved in running a house for one, let alone six. He has a relative about five minutes away that he can contact should anything major happen, his parents made sure of that, but there's still cleaning and cooking, along with bills to pay and food shopping to be done. And that means budgeting, and Nichkhun hates maths, not to mention the fact that it takes him about twice as long to do everything because-surprise surprise-he still can't read Korean.
Wooyoung likes to pretend he's being useful, but he mostly just spends his time riding on the front of the trolley and filling it up with things Nichkhun doesn't need, or translating things wrong for him on purpose just to see his reaction, or changing the TV channel to some music show right when Nichkhun's trying to practice his Korean, copying the dance moves and making Nichkhun practice with him.
Nichkhun should probably be a lot more annoyed than he ever is, but then Wooyoung will punch him and he'll drape himself all over Wooyoung in revenge and they won't move away for a long time, probably too long, and by then Nichkhun will have forgotten everything except Wooyoung's warmth.
+
If his parents splitting up and sending him to Korea alone for was what it took for him to meet Wooyoung, Nichkhun finds he doesn't mind so much anymore.
His brother emails, updating him about the legal proceedings and his sisters call, crying into his ear about how broken they are, and how they miss him and what will they do, but Nichkhun presses the phone into his ear, watches Wooyoung as he wins their video game, grinning and whooping and doing a victory dance, and thinks-it's funny, but it doesn't hurt as much as it used to. And maybe, maybe it takes one thing breaking to make another thing whole.
+
The first time Nichkhun realizes something major is up is when Wooyoung joins him on their walk to school looking absolutely awful. He's pale and clammy, except for his eyes, which are a disturbing shade of red and seem way too dry. He's barely able to keep up, slowly shuffling along the footpath as far away from Nichkhun as he can manage, clutching onto every fixed setting they pass in an effort to stay upright.
Nichkhun almost offers him his shoulder to lean on, but Wooyoung seems to shrink away whenever he gets too close, so he tries to keep his distance, even if it hurts his feelings a bit. "You sure you don't need to see a doctor?" he asks, eyeing Wooyoung as he drapes himself over a telephone pole.
"I'm sure," says Wooyoung, but his eyes are squeezed shut and his breathing sounds awful and Nichkhun is suspicious. "I'm fine. I just had a bad dream last night."
Nichkhun can't help edging closer this time, because it had to have been some kind of nasty dream to have this much of an effect on his friend, and he's just about enquire further when-
"Sorry, hyung, I need to use the bathroom before class."
And, despite his obvious ailment, Wooyoung moves the fastest Nichkhun has ever seen him, disappearing around the corner before Nichkhun can even consider giving chase.
Nichkhun has to admit, the first time Wooyoung called him hyung, it made him feel just a little bit special. Now he can't help thinking Wooyoung is using it just to keep him at a distance, and it's confusing and kind of upsetting and, just as seems to be the running theme in his life in Korea, he doesn't understand it at all.
+
"Where's Wooyoung?" Taec asks at their lockers. He leans in without permission and reaches into Nichkhun's bag of mangoes to grab a handful, but Nichkhun can't bring himself to care. "I haven't seen him today."
"He was here," he says. He thinks about how terrible Wooyoung had still looked in class, how nauseated and downcast he had been, and Nichkhun knows he should have been more insistent. He should have made him go to the doctor, should have dragged him there no matter what. Wooyoung's stubbornness means he isn’t that great at looking after himself and he could be dying before he'll even consider admitting weakness. Nichkhun sighs.
"You alright, man?" Taec stuffs the mangoes in his mouth and gently eases the package out of Nichkhun hands and, Nichkhun dully notes, into his own bag. "I think you need to relax, you're way tense."
Nichkhun thinks that no, he doesn't need to relax. What he needs is Wooyoung.
+
Three days later, no-one has had any contact with Wooyoung and Nichkhun is really worried. He knows they both have their own lives, away from each other, Wooyoung has his family and dancing and choir and Nichkhun has language lessons and guitar and homework, but he can't ever remember spending a day in Korea without having seen him at least once. It's like going cold turkey and he honestly thinks his hands are shaking more than usual and his breathing's gone all strange and he's getting weird cravings for things like samgyupsal and chocolate sauce with the loss.
At first he had thought that Wooyoung was just sick and sleeping it off, and had even made him that Korean porridge, like in dramas, with a recipe from the internet. But when he left it in front of Wooyoung's front door at eight in the evening and it was still there, cold and congealed and very unappetizing-well, even more so-at eight in the morning, he had realized Wooyoung hadn't left his room at all, for days. He's tried phoning, and he's called and called but Wooyoung doesn't answer, even though Nichkhun knows that Wooyoung's inside because he hears the toilet flush after he stands, for almost an hour, with his ear pressed to the front door.
It's not weird, he tells himself, walking backwards down their street and counting the windows of the apartment complex to locate Wooyoung's bedroom, and it's not stalking, either. Something bad is happening with his friend, and he's just showing a healthy amount of interest in trying to help.
Well, he thinks as he roots around in his bag for his binoculars, probably not healthy, so much. But maybe he doesn't care.
+
Nichkhun should probably have more of a problem than he does with using his looks to his advantage, but when it comes to important issues like Wooyoung-Wooyoung, Wooyoung, Wooyoung-he has no mercy, pouncing on the land lady as soon as she returns from her Go-Stop tournament, prepared to use every trick he knows to get her to cooperate.
It's disappointingly easy in the end, though, and he has the keys jangling between his fingers in minutes, hurrying up to their floor and missing the lock twice, slipping and jarring his finger before stabbing himself in the palm in his impatience. He swears as he stumbles into the room.
Wooyoung is in bed and staring with wide eyes, shivering under his thick comforter, and Nichkhun knows enough about fevers to be sure that Wooyoung has one. Not waiting for a word from Wooyoung, he stomps over and rips the comforter off him and panics only slightly when Wooyoung seems to faint.
"Er," he says. And then calls his mom for help.
+
When he finally realizes what Wooyoung's real problem is, what he's been going through, how he's been treating himself, he wants to shake Wooyoung because, really, that's what this is about? Wooyoung's been stressing for days, weeks even, and he's made himself sick and made Nichkhun worry because of that?
So Wooyoung likes him likes him and it's a big deal, yes, obviously, and Nichkhun can see why he's been so distant but has Wooyoung really been dreading his reaction that much that he had to go to such extremes? Nichkhun's almost offended and wants to tell him so, but then Wooyoung shifts in the bed and Nichkhun sees-
Wooyoung's face reddens as he tries to cover himself up and Nichkhun suddenly realizes he doesn't know what he's saying anymore. Or what he's doing, obviously, because they were talking about dreams but now he thinks he has just groped his best friend, got into bed with his best friend, kissed his best friend, just rubbed his knee over his crotch and now Wooyoung's groaning and-
And he hadn't even realised he'd wanted it, not really, not until Wooyoung made his own feelings obvious, but now that he has it's really no surprise and he knows exactly why it happened, can pinpoint the precise moments-because there isn't just one, there can't be, not with someone like Wooyoung-that he fell and he doesn't regret it at all.
He makes a decision.
He slides his hand downward, under elastic and over skin. Wooyoung is burning hot, and he has that vaguely greasy feeling associated with being unwashed, but Nichkhun doesn't care, because Wooyoung's expressions are addictive as he wraps his fingers tight, gentle and doting and he watches Wooyoung's face closely, unable to look away even for a second.
When it's over Nichkhun closes his eyes and busies himself with tidying up-like the first time they met, he thinks idly-in an effort to ignore his own hormones.
"Sorry," Wooyoung breathes, seeming unable to look him in the eye.
"Don't be," says Nichkhun seriously. And he means it. This is something new, unchartered territory, but Nichkhun learned a while ago that change is, more often than not, something to be grateful for, something to cherish, and this is no exception.
Wooyoung falls asleep and Nichkhun studies him for a while, reveling in the way his soft, even breathing permeates the room. It feels lived in and full and it's such a tiny thing but then he realizes-Wooyoung always makes him feel like that. Somehow, this one Korean dude has managed to fill the place inside Nichkhun that his entire family left.
He made Korea into a home, a place of warmth and happiness and that's something Nichkhun appreciates more than anything.
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