Slow Emotion (Tablo/Eunhyuk)
Pairing: Blohyuk
Rating: PG
A/N: I kinda (read:totally) went over the word limit for this. Sorry. :/
She shivers and in the cold whispered touch of air conditioned air, a line of goose bumps quickly arise and decorate her arm like plates of armor.
Daniel draws her a little closer to himself and his radiating body heat. Over the soft curve of her shoulders, he reaches over to pull the thin blanket over them.
Her hair, long like the endless strands of a spider web pours out around them like ink from a tipped well. Daniel reaches over to gently tuck a few stray wisps behind her ear.
Cast in a silvery bath of moonlight, she glows like a mystical celestial creature and Daniel is fascinated. Absolutely fascinated.
Around them lay their shorn and shucked clothing as though the floor was an offering plate and the bed an alter.
Among their castaway clothing, her dress, pure and white, is lain down reverently across the only chair Daniel has in the room.
It is a piece of clothing that will never be worn again for a man that never came.
Daniel remembers the moment that the two of them had rushed in, smelling heavily of alcohol and giggles rising to their mouths as easily as the bubbles did in their champagne filled glasses.
“Plurz,” the groom-to-be said, his words thick and slurred. “Marry us,” he gestured to himself and her. “N-hic-Now,” he said, hiccupping on the word.
Normally, Daniel didn’t care who came to him. If they had the marriage license, they could be a man and table for all he was concerned, he would marry them.
There was something about this girl though, something about her wide gummy smile, and the way her laugh lines framed her startling clear eyes that made Daniel pull a law out of his ass.
“Sorry, you crazy lovebirds,” Daniel deadpanned. “Rules state that you have to wait 24 hours after filling out these forms before I can marry you.”
He pushed his glasses further up his nose as he slid the form over to them.
They both had nodded their understanding and each took a chained pen from its desk stand. Under their busy hands, bright blue ink started to bleed out across the black and white grids of the registry form.
Daniel collected the forms when they were done and checked his watch.
“I’ll see you back here at 3:30 tomorrow then,” he said, stamping their forms with a quick chomp chomp noise.
They thanked him and left, arms and fingers interlocked as they stumbled out the door.
Daniel glanced at the forms in his hands.
Her name was Eunhyuk. Lee Eunhyuk.
***
At 3:00 the following day, Eunhyuk walked through the paint chipped doors of the chapel and back into Daniel’s life.
Daniel abruptly swung his feet off the table and stubbed out the cigarette he just lit up.
“Sorry,” Eunhyuk said, looking as though she was ready to say the phrase three more times. A growing blush started to stain her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to get here so early. I just wanted to make sure he - No, I mean never mind.” She waved her hand back and forth to destroy that bubble of thought.
“It’s fine,” Daniel said, his eyes never leaving her face. “Please, sit down.” He gestured to the slightly sagging chair in front of him and hopes she doesn’t notice the dark bands of duct tape holding the seat together.
“Thank you.” She picks up the hem of her white, white dress up before settling down in the dilapidated chair.
“Nice shoes,” Daniel remarked, noticing the flash of worn down sneakers she had on under her dress.
“Kekeke,” she chuffed. “They are rather nice, aren’t they?” she preened, automatically stretching out her legs to admire her own mud splattered footgear.
There was nothing more to say after that. Daniel tried looking everywhere besides her face, but found himself irrepressibly drawn back.
“So…” he began as the silence-filled seconds continued to tic uncomfortably by. “Why are you marrying him anyway?”
“Being with someone is better than being with no one.” Tired and resigned, the smile that accompanied the answer was ragged around the corners. It was as though she honestly thought she could no do better than this.
Before Daniel can probe any deeper however, she quickly changed the topic. “Oh!” she exclaimed, pointing with one glossy manicured fingertip at the flimsy CD resting at the corner of Daniel’s desk. “Do you listen to them too?”
Daniel cleared his throat as he replied that yes, yes he was an avid listener of this particular group. He had no idea their fan base was so broad.
She nodded enthusiastically, her earrings swinging with every rapid movement she made. “Yeah, they’re one of those groups that left the underground but haven’t really gone mainstream yet. I don’t think most people know what they look like.” She grins. “I think they’re really good, but I really admire one of the rappers.”
“Uh…Mithra?” Daniel said half hazarding a guess.
She laughed and said, “No, though I do think he’s very talented too.” She lifted a hand to her mouth as though she was imparting a great secret to him. “The one I really like is Tablo. Sometimes I try to rap along with him, but his rapid-fire rhyming technique…he’s like the rap James Joyce. I bet it’d be even better live.” She sighed and leaned back into her seat.
“You’ve never seen them perform live?” Daniel questioned, feigning ignorance as he surreptitiously nudged the flyer for their upcoming performance closer to her.
She shook her head no. “I only have audio clips of them. It’s easier to try to rap with them that way anyway. Visual clips would probably be too distracting.”
“Oh? You also rap?” Daniel asked as he tried to disguise his tone of interest.
“A little,” she said reaching into her pockets - where did this girl find a wedding dress that had pockets in it!? Daniel wondered, more than slightly amazed - and pulling a heavily creased paper out. “I’ve been working on this one for a bit.”
Daniel made out the title and he read the chorus scribbled down on the page.
Do you want love, what do I have to do, and I want love, I’m still in love with you. Wait, this is a - He looked up at her in alarm, but at the sight of her slumped shoulders and downcast eyes, he can’t continue the thought.
“Maybe you should - ” he started to say instead, but the tiny beeping of his watch alarm informed them that it was now 3:30.
“ - get going?” she asked. The smile that graced her face didn’t quite reach her eyes.
She stood and headed towards the door. She kept her head high and back straight as she walked across the dingy red carpet outside Daniel’s office. Her sneakers barely made a sound as they treaded across the worn floors.
***
At 4:00, Jin and Jung Sik were fidgeting in the front row.
“Do you have any witnesses?” Daniel had asked when he joined her at the podium in front of the chapel.
“…Not…really,” she had said. Daniel had simply woke Jin up from his nap in one of the pews and placed a card saying “At a wedding, ring the bell” at the front desk when he pulled Jung Sik out of his assigned role.
“Now you do,” he said.
He didn’t know her, but she was a grown woman who could make her own decisions. So what if she was 5 years younger than him (he knew, he checked)? He wasn’t going to try to save her like some sort of demented knight in shining armor, but if she wanted to get married, then the least he could do was make it as official as he could.
At 5:00, Jin had wandered off to get a snack and Jung Sik was staring at the ceiling.
At 6:00, she took off her veil, soft and translucent like falling snow and said, “He’s not coming, is he.”
From the back Jin called out, “Want a beer?”
***
She didn’t drink with them. “I made a promise with a childhood friend,” she said refusing the tin coated can handed to her. Jung Sik nodded, understanding the value of childhood promises and opened his own can.
She did however, eat with them and packed away more food than they thought could possibly fit in her small frame.
With a piece of beef still not fully chewed in her mouth, she signaled to the waitress to bring over another plate of meat.
“I like her. A LOT,” Jin grinned, his face red from the alcohol and belly only starting to get full.
At the end of the night with their stomachs close to bursting, Jin and Jung Sik waved goodbye to them before heading to another bar.
Daniel and Eunhyuk started to walk, the bright flashing lights splashing across them in hues of neon as they continued on in silence.
“About today…” Daniel started, but Eunhyuk whirled on him, her hand steady on his arm as she pressed her lips to his.
She tasted like the mint they got at the end of their meal.
“Thanks. For everything,” she said when they pulled away.
Daniel took her hand in his and placed a kiss on it. He holds it in his own and when she squeezed back, he lead her back home.
***
Months later, Eunhyuk has replaced Jung Sik at the front desk. His place is next to Daniel now, and he’s always ready for another rendition of “White Wedding” whenever another hapless couple strolls down the aisle.
A couple of weeks after that, a flyer goes up in their lunch room. It states that Epik High is performing and their opening act is a new upcoming artist with her song, “One Love.”
Eunhyuk is breathless after the show, and despite the beads of sweat that dot her face and neck, she glows in her happiness and exhaustion.
“Thank you,” she tells Daniel, her eyes almost unbearably bright. She leans into him, her breath brushing his face as she says, “The world breaks me down, but you, you build me back up.”
Daniel closes the distance between them and kisses her.
“Hey!” Jin shouts, “Some of us are still here you know!”
“Crazy girl, you got me going crazy girl,” Jung Sik croons out.
“Shut the fuck up!” Daniel hollers at them the moment his mouth is free. “I was having a goddamn moment here!”
In response, Eunhyuk bursts out in laughter and Daniel jumps off the stage, rolling up his sleeves as he readies himself to deliver the monster of all noogies to his fellow bandmates and coworkers.
“It’s true I’m a little, very, a little shy,” Eunhyuk raps softly to herself, smiling as she turns the ring on her finger round and around.
“Hey,” Daniel calls as he returns to the room, the knuckles on his hands a little bruised. “What are you doing singing to yourself over there?”
“Just wondering if there is anyone like you,” Eunhyuk shouts back.
“Wellll,” Daniel says, pretending to think about it. “I do have an older brother, but he’s not as awesome as I am.”
Eunhyuk jumps off the stage and laughs as she links their hands together. “What’s his number?”
(“.....You’re joking right?”)
Rating: PG
A/N: I kinda (read:totally) went over the word limit for this. Sorry. :/
She shivers and in the cold whispered touch of air conditioned air, a line of goose bumps quickly arise and decorate her arm like plates of armor.
Daniel draws her a little closer to himself and his radiating body heat. Over the soft curve of her shoulders, he reaches over to pull the thin blanket over them.
Her hair, long like the endless strands of a spider web pours out around them like ink from a tipped well. Daniel reaches over to gently tuck a few stray wisps behind her ear.
Cast in a silvery bath of moonlight, she glows like a mystical celestial creature and Daniel is fascinated. Absolutely fascinated.
Around them lay their shorn and shucked clothing as though the floor was an offering plate and the bed an alter.
Among their castaway clothing, her dress, pure and white, is lain down reverently across the only chair Daniel has in the room.
It is a piece of clothing that will never be worn again for a man that never came.
Daniel remembers the moment that the two of them had rushed in, smelling heavily of alcohol and giggles rising to their mouths as easily as the bubbles did in their champagne filled glasses.
“Plurz,” the groom-to-be said, his words thick and slurred. “Marry us,” he gestured to himself and her. “N-hic-Now,” he said, hiccupping on the word.
Normally, Daniel didn’t care who came to him. If they had the marriage license, they could be a man and table for all he was concerned, he would marry them.
There was something about this girl though, something about her wide gummy smile, and the way her laugh lines framed her startling clear eyes that made Daniel pull a law out of his ass.
“Sorry, you crazy lovebirds,” Daniel deadpanned. “Rules state that you have to wait 24 hours after filling out these forms before I can marry you.”
He pushed his glasses further up his nose as he slid the form over to them.
They both had nodded their understanding and each took a chained pen from its desk stand. Under their busy hands, bright blue ink started to bleed out across the black and white grids of the registry form.
Daniel collected the forms when they were done and checked his watch.
“I’ll see you back here at 3:30 tomorrow then,” he said, stamping their forms with a quick chomp chomp noise.
They thanked him and left, arms and fingers interlocked as they stumbled out the door.
Daniel glanced at the forms in his hands.
Her name was Eunhyuk. Lee Eunhyuk.
***
At 3:00 the following day, Eunhyuk walked through the paint chipped doors of the chapel and back into Daniel’s life.
Daniel abruptly swung his feet off the table and stubbed out the cigarette he just lit up.
“Sorry,” Eunhyuk said, looking as though she was ready to say the phrase three more times. A growing blush started to stain her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to get here so early. I just wanted to make sure he - No, I mean never mind.” She waved her hand back and forth to destroy that bubble of thought.
“It’s fine,” Daniel said, his eyes never leaving her face. “Please, sit down.” He gestured to the slightly sagging chair in front of him and hopes she doesn’t notice the dark bands of duct tape holding the seat together.
“Thank you.” She picks up the hem of her white, white dress up before settling down in the dilapidated chair.
“Nice shoes,” Daniel remarked, noticing the flash of worn down sneakers she had on under her dress.
“Kekeke,” she chuffed. “They are rather nice, aren’t they?” she preened, automatically stretching out her legs to admire her own mud splattered footgear.
There was nothing more to say after that. Daniel tried looking everywhere besides her face, but found himself irrepressibly drawn back.
“So…” he began as the silence-filled seconds continued to tic uncomfortably by. “Why are you marrying him anyway?”
“Being with someone is better than being with no one.” Tired and resigned, the smile that accompanied the answer was ragged around the corners. It was as though she honestly thought she could no do better than this.
Before Daniel can probe any deeper however, she quickly changed the topic. “Oh!” she exclaimed, pointing with one glossy manicured fingertip at the flimsy CD resting at the corner of Daniel’s desk. “Do you listen to them too?”
Daniel cleared his throat as he replied that yes, yes he was an avid listener of this particular group. He had no idea their fan base was so broad.
She nodded enthusiastically, her earrings swinging with every rapid movement she made. “Yeah, they’re one of those groups that left the underground but haven’t really gone mainstream yet. I don’t think most people know what they look like.” She grins. “I think they’re really good, but I really admire one of the rappers.”
“Uh…Mithra?” Daniel said half hazarding a guess.
She laughed and said, “No, though I do think he’s very talented too.” She lifted a hand to her mouth as though she was imparting a great secret to him. “The one I really like is Tablo. Sometimes I try to rap along with him, but his rapid-fire rhyming technique…he’s like the rap James Joyce. I bet it’d be even better live.” She sighed and leaned back into her seat.
“You’ve never seen them perform live?” Daniel questioned, feigning ignorance as he surreptitiously nudged the flyer for their upcoming performance closer to her.
She shook her head no. “I only have audio clips of them. It’s easier to try to rap with them that way anyway. Visual clips would probably be too distracting.”
“Oh? You also rap?” Daniel asked as he tried to disguise his tone of interest.
“A little,” she said reaching into her pockets - where did this girl find a wedding dress that had pockets in it!? Daniel wondered, more than slightly amazed - and pulling a heavily creased paper out. “I’ve been working on this one for a bit.”
Daniel made out the title and he read the chorus scribbled down on the page.
Do you want love, what do I have to do, and I want love, I’m still in love with you. Wait, this is a - He looked up at her in alarm, but at the sight of her slumped shoulders and downcast eyes, he can’t continue the thought.
“Maybe you should - ” he started to say instead, but the tiny beeping of his watch alarm informed them that it was now 3:30.
“ - get going?” she asked. The smile that graced her face didn’t quite reach her eyes.
She stood and headed towards the door. She kept her head high and back straight as she walked across the dingy red carpet outside Daniel’s office. Her sneakers barely made a sound as they treaded across the worn floors.
***
At 4:00, Jin and Jung Sik were fidgeting in the front row.
“Do you have any witnesses?” Daniel had asked when he joined her at the podium in front of the chapel.
“…Not…really,” she had said. Daniel had simply woke Jin up from his nap in one of the pews and placed a card saying “At a wedding, ring the bell” at the front desk when he pulled Jung Sik out of his assigned role.
“Now you do,” he said.
He didn’t know her, but she was a grown woman who could make her own decisions. So what if she was 5 years younger than him (he knew, he checked)? He wasn’t going to try to save her like some sort of demented knight in shining armor, but if she wanted to get married, then the least he could do was make it as official as he could.
At 5:00, Jin had wandered off to get a snack and Jung Sik was staring at the ceiling.
At 6:00, she took off her veil, soft and translucent like falling snow and said, “He’s not coming, is he.”
From the back Jin called out, “Want a beer?”
***
She didn’t drink with them. “I made a promise with a childhood friend,” she said refusing the tin coated can handed to her. Jung Sik nodded, understanding the value of childhood promises and opened his own can.
She did however, eat with them and packed away more food than they thought could possibly fit in her small frame.
With a piece of beef still not fully chewed in her mouth, she signaled to the waitress to bring over another plate of meat.
“I like her. A LOT,” Jin grinned, his face red from the alcohol and belly only starting to get full.
At the end of the night with their stomachs close to bursting, Jin and Jung Sik waved goodbye to them before heading to another bar.
Daniel and Eunhyuk started to walk, the bright flashing lights splashing across them in hues of neon as they continued on in silence.
“About today…” Daniel started, but Eunhyuk whirled on him, her hand steady on his arm as she pressed her lips to his.
She tasted like the mint they got at the end of their meal.
“Thanks. For everything,” she said when they pulled away.
Daniel took her hand in his and placed a kiss on it. He holds it in his own and when she squeezed back, he lead her back home.
***
Months later, Eunhyuk has replaced Jung Sik at the front desk. His place is next to Daniel now, and he’s always ready for another rendition of “White Wedding” whenever another hapless couple strolls down the aisle.
A couple of weeks after that, a flyer goes up in their lunch room. It states that Epik High is performing and their opening act is a new upcoming artist with her song, “One Love.”
Eunhyuk is breathless after the show, and despite the beads of sweat that dot her face and neck, she glows in her happiness and exhaustion.
“Thank you,” she tells Daniel, her eyes almost unbearably bright. She leans into him, her breath brushing his face as she says, “The world breaks me down, but you, you build me back up.”
Daniel closes the distance between them and kisses her.
“Hey!” Jin shouts, “Some of us are still here you know!”
“Crazy girl, you got me going crazy girl,” Jung Sik croons out.
“Shut the fuck up!” Daniel hollers at them the moment his mouth is free. “I was having a goddamn moment here!”
In response, Eunhyuk bursts out in laughter and Daniel jumps off the stage, rolling up his sleeves as he readies himself to deliver the monster of all noogies to his fellow bandmates and coworkers.
“It’s true I’m a little, very, a little shy,” Eunhyuk raps softly to herself, smiling as she turns the ring on her finger round and around.
“Hey,” Daniel calls as he returns to the room, the knuckles on his hands a little bruised. “What are you doing singing to yourself over there?”
“Just wondering if there is anyone like you,” Eunhyuk shouts back.
“Wellll,” Daniel says, pretending to think about it. “I do have an older brother, but he’s not as awesome as I am.”
Eunhyuk jumps off the stage and laughs as she links their hands together. “What’s his number?”
(“.....You’re joking right?”)