submission 2 (part b)
part 1
"So you just ran out?"
They're walking down the main street, a cappucino in Sungmin's hand, a black coffee with a dash of chocolate syrup in Heechul's. It's getting colder now, winter setting in, and Sungmin has a scarf wrapped around the bottom half of his face. Heechul, who feels the cold a lot more than Sungmin does, didn't realise that he was living in the South Pole when he left the house this morning and so doesn't even have gloves. He is bitterly, bitterly cold, but can't do a thing about it because he doesn't have any money to spend. It was Sungmin who paid for the coffees in an attempt at warming themselves up, because Heechul spent all his money on alcohol the night before, trying to forget that he'd kissed Hankyung's chest after sex.
After sex.
"What was I supposed to do?" The coffee is strong and makes him grimace a little, but at least it's chasing away his hangover. "Now he probably thinks that I'm in love with him."
"But you aren't?"
Heechul glares. "No, of course I'm not! I don't even know what made me do it, but I don't like him. At all."
"You keep saying that, but the fact is, you get on with him really well."
"What makes you believe that?" It's defensive.
"You mean beyond the fact that you both practically ignore Kyuhyun and I at lunch time because you're too busy talking to each other." Sungmin's eyes crinkle above his scarf, and it's enough for Heechul to know that he's grinning. "Well, if that can be called talking. You just seem to insult or come on to each other."
"That doesn't mean anything."
"You always watch each other. You kiss in the hallway. You get jealous when he talks to anyone that you haven't given permission for."
"Well, he's my property."
"And you kissed his chest."
Half an hour later, waiting in a queue as Sungmin buys a new shirt, Heechul suddenly grabs his arm. "Oh god, I like him."
"Finally!" cheers Sungmin. "You've only been sleeping with him for two months!"
---
cinderella: pretend for a second that you don't have to agree with everything sungmin says.
gamekyu: fuck you
gamekyu: i'm not whipped
cinderella: whatever
cinderella: do you think i should tell hankyung that i like him?
cinderella: i mean, in a hypothetical situation
cinderella: if i did
gamekyu: lol 'hypothetical situation'
gamekyu: you clearly like him
cinderella: asdlk;asd fuck you
---
"Kyuhyun doesn't think I should tell him," he tells Sungmin come Monday morning, which means that Kyuhyun is in the doghouse for the rest of the day; not that he really cares, he just works on one of his music compositions, although he does flip Heechul off more than once during the day. The fact is, Heechul has used him as an excuse. He doesn't want to tell Hankyung, mostly because he probably already ruined what they have with his stunt on Friday and he doesn't want to fuck it up even more. That's why, when he sees Hankyung in History, he pretends like nothing happened.
"My house tonight?" he asks, perching on Hankyung's desk. There's no reply; Hankyung is staring at his phone. "Hankyung?" Nothing. He clicks his fingers in front of Hankyung's face, and Hankyung jumps and finally looks up at his face. "Hey," says Heechul.
"Oh, hi, sorry." Hankyung still seems distracted somehow. "Did you say something?"
Heechul isn't too sure whether he's happy Hankyung isn't bringing up what happened on Friday, or angry that Hankyung's attention isn't fully focused on him. "My house? Tonight?"
"Oh." Hankyung looks shifty. He doesn't wear such a look well. "Sorry, I can't do tonight."
"Oh?" Heechul pauses, but Hankyung doesn't offer any reason why he's brushing Heechul off. Something begins to build in his stomach, something which he tries to tell himself isn't hurt. He doesn't care that he's just been brushed off. He knows that Hankyung considers this to be a lot more casual than Heechul possibly does. Hankyung is perfectly in his right to turn down the offer. It's not like they're dating or anything.
He tries to pretend that he's not flouncing off, but it's hard when you are actually flouncing off.
---
Hankyung doesn't turn up for lunch. It's the first time in about two weeks that Heechul has gone without eating anything at lunch, and he feels it. The coffee burns his mouth but at least it soothes the hunger pangs a little. He talks to Kyuhyun about what he's working on, and gossips with Sungmin about a girl in Sungmin's art class, and tries to hide how bored he is. He's horrified to realise that Hankyung has managed to worm his way into his life and take over everything. It's just not fair, considering he clearly means nothing to Hankyung.
He ignores Hankyung when Hankyung comes into Maths, and Hankyung leaves by the door at the back of the classroom so he can't ignore him at the end of the lesson either. He feels irrationally annoyed that Hankyung doesn't seem to have realised that he's irrationally annoyed. He bitches about it all the way down to the gates, at which point he stops, because down the bottom of the street is a head of blonde hair talking to someone. The someone is slightly taller, long black hair tied back, rather more filled out than Hankyung. As they watch, the stranger throws an arm around Hankyung's shoulders, grinning, and pulls him around the corner.
"Oh, I see," says Heechul, his mouth a thin line of anger.
"Oh," says Sungmin. "There is no way they're sleeping together. I mean, ew, did you see his hair?"
Heechul shrugs. "That wasn't what I meant. I just see who I've been brushed off for."
"And you're prettier than him, right?" Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. "Didn't you see Hankyung's face? He was terrified."
"Really?" Sungmin is the only one who seems interested. Heechul is too busy storming off.
---
Hankyung misses lunch again the next day. According to Siwon, who Sungmin interrogates, Hankyung turned up at the Chinese lesson immediately afterwards, but was late and seemed distracted somehow. Heechul doesn't get a chance to talk to him at all, because Hankying either avoids him, or is texting someone when Heechul gets close enough to talk.
The next day is the same, and it pisses him off, and when Heechul gets pissed off, he gets snippy, and by the end of the day, Sungmin is in a huff and Kyuhyun carries an air of being vaguely annoyed. Heechul is supposed to be going out for dinner with Donghae and Kibum and thinks about calling it off, but when he gets home he finds that there's nothing to eat in the house at all. In the end, he pulls on some jeans and a top and stomps off to meet the other two.
In the end, he enjoys himself. This is because Donghae is always oblivious to bad tempers and because Kibum just ignores him when he gets in a mood. By the end of the night, he's had a couple of drinks and he's actually laughing when they leave, Donghae simultaneously hanging off his shoulders and clinging to Kibum's hand. "We should probably take Kibum home first," Heechul says, reaching across to poke Kibum in the shoulder. "We need to make sure the baby gets home first."
"I'm going to hyung's," says Kibum, and Heechul hopes that he means Donghae's house and not his own, because that was never in the plans for tonight, but then Donghae leaves go of him to wrap his arms around Kibum and they stick each other's tongues down their throats, and yeah, okay, he meant Donghae's house.
"I miss sex," Heechul says sadly. Kibum breaks away from Donghae, who makes a miserable sound, to gasp something at him. "Huh?"
"What happened to that guy?" was what Kibum had asked. Heechul shrugs.
"The fucker keeps blowing me off," he says, and then adds, "And not in the good way. He keeps cancelling on me and ignoring me."
"Is this still the guy who you don't like?"
"No," says Heechul. "This is the guy that I didn't think I liked but I now think I do."
"Oh," says Kibum. "You like him?"
"Shut up."
"Kibummie," moans Donghae unhappily, and Kibum is distracted once more. Heechul stands next to them, watching the world go by. A young couple goes past, the girl clinging to the arm of the boy. A couple of businessmen, their suits dishevelled because they're drunk. A group of boys down the end of the road, in the midst of it a head of very familiar looking blonde hair.
"Hey," he says, and taps Donghae on the shoulder. "Hey. Oh, for god's sake." He takes hold of the back of Donghae's collar and wrenches, so that Donghae falls backwards, almost toppling over and taking Kibum with him. Before they can complain, Heechul says, "Remember that guy we were just talking about?"
"Fucking hell, what about him?"
"He's down there." He points to the group, who hold a rather threatening air about them. "The blonde one."
Even Donghae now appears interested. Together, they watch as the group heckles a couple of workers who walk past, and then turn on the girl walking quickly behind them. For a second, it seems like things are going to get nasty, but she pushes through them, head down, and they let her go, though they shout after her. Hankyung, Heechul notices, is hanging back. This is something the person next to him picks up on, turning and half-looming over him. Hankyung's head bobs, and when the guy turns back around, Heechul recognises him as the guy from outside school two days ago.
"You're sleeping with him? Did you know that he was like that?"
"I knew he used to be in a gang," says Heechul. "I didn't know he was still in one."
"He looks scared." Donghae, as always, percieves things that they miss. Heechul squints and just about manages to make out the tense line of Hankyung's mouth. He doesn't know about scared though.
---
"I saw you last night."
Hankyung's head lifts off the table. He looks tired and stressed, shadows beginning under his eyes. He blinks slowly once, twice, and then says, "What?"
"Last night, in town. With some guys."
Hankyung's face closes off. "So?"
"So who were they?"
"Why should I tell you?"
Good question. Heechul kind of wants to say "Because we've been sleeping together for the past two months," but knows that he can't, because that suggests that he's a lot more invested in this semi-relationship than he wants to admit. His pride doesn't allow him to. Instead, he says, in a haughty voice, "I just like to know what my property is getting up to behind my back."
"Your property?" Hankyung's expression is ugly, his tone pissed off. "I'm not your property, Heechul. I'm no one's property."
Heechul sits down on Hankyung's desk, sweeping Hankyung's books and pens from it as he goes. "You're either with me, Hankyung," he says, as Hankyung looks down at the mess of things. "Or against me."
Hankyung looks up, eyes narrowed. "I was never with you, Heechul. What we had wasn't anything other than a pastime."
"Then I guess you're against me," says Heechul quietly, and when he leaves, he makes sure to drag his hand over Hankyung's chest and across his throat for the last time.
---
"Wait, what?"
Heechul doesn't want to have to say it again. What happened two hours ago with Hankyung still smarts, and he's just relayed the whole thing to Sungmin, as the third person in their Biology group does the work set to them without even questioning. Heechul always makes sure to pull a complete geek in with them, because then they'll pass the class and can rely on the fact that the geek will have no friends to stop any gossip getting spread around, and this time, Heechul really doesn't want gossip. It's bad enough that most of the school must know that Hankyung and him are no longer a thing, but to have it be known that Heechul actually cares, that's unbearable.
"And he just accepted it?"
"Of course he just fucking accepted it. What was it to him? I was just someone he had slept with. He was right, he didn't have to tell me what he was up to."
"Heechul, I'm so sor--"
Heechul crashes to his feet, stool falling backwards with a bang, and leaves the classroom as fast as he can without appearing to run. He can't stand to have Sungmin's pity, he can't stand to have anyone feeling sorry for him. He's Kim Heechul, he doesn't need sympathy and he certainly doesn't need Hankyung.
---
Now that Hankyung is against him, he is no longer allowed the luxury of blonde hair. The packet of hair dye that Heechul leaves in his locker is dropped into the nearest bin. It's enough for the rest of the school to know that war has begun again.
---
This time, it's all Heechul. He knocks books off desks, pours things into Hankyung's bag, steals Hankyung's things and drops them out of third floor windows. Hankyung never retaliates. The one time Heechul trips him up in PE, Hankyung just gets to his feet and carries on without even looking at him. The whole thing leaves Heechul with a bad taste in his mouth, but he can't work out what else he's supposed to do.
---
"You're miserable without him."
The truth comes not from Sungmin, but instead from Kyuhyun, one lunch time about a week after the break up of whatever he and Hankyung had. It is said in a quiet, matter-of-fact way, and so Heechul isn't sure how to deny it. He stays silent. It would be a lie, whatever he said, because the truth is that he misses Hankyung, and in some way, blames himself for losing him. Everything had been fine up until that idiotic move he pulled. On some level, he thinks that that scared Hankyung away from him.
"I'm stupid," he says, and they spend the rest of the break in silence.
---
When Heechul walks into Maths, Hankyung is already sitting there, face like thunder, with a black eye. If things had been different, Heechul would have asked what had happened. Instead, he pauses on his way past and notices Hankyung's shoulders tense. He bends down. "I see someone managed what I've always wanted to do," he says, and hopes that it hurts more than the eye. He pushes on.
---
The guy with the long black hair is waiting outside of the school again. Something tells Heechul that it's not a social visit that is awaiting Hankyung, and so he makes the others loiter for a while until Hankyung comes out. When he comes out of the gates and sees the guy, his face changes. This time, Heechul can see the scared look on Hankyung's face, but also the resignition. The man says something to him, but it's in Chinese. Hankyung answers back in Chinese, and two heads turn to Kyuhyun, who is taking Chinese.
"No," he translates. "I told you, no."
There is an angry sounding reply that Kyuhyun doesn't understand a word of, a hand closes around Hankyung's collar. Hankyung doesn't fight back, and is dragged down the road. After a quick glance at each other, the other three follow.
They are lead to what must once have been a warehouse. Hankyung is pulled outside, and there is shouting and cat-calling from within. The door has been left slightly ajar, and they look inside just in time to see the guy with the black hair hit Hankyung in the jar and send him flying. Sungmin gasps and then claps his hand to his mouth to hide the noise. Heechul stares. Hankyung stays down, sprawled on his front on the floor. The guy sneers at him in Chinese, and two of the others step forward and pull Hankyung up by the shoulders.
A question is asked. Hankyung shakes his head and a knee impacts with his stomach, making him cry out and double up. The word that Kyuhyun said meant no is repeated over and over, Hankyung's voice desperate. With each refusal comes another hit; Heechul turns to Kyuhyun. "What's Chinese for mine?" he asks, voice hard. Frowning in confusion, Kyuhyun tells him. Heechul repeats it, pulls his phone out of his pocket and throws it at Kyuhyun. "Call Kangin and the others. Tell them where we are."
Kyuhyun nods, and Heechul nods at Sungmin, who kicks the door open. There's no reason for it other than to make an entrance, something they both like to do. Heads turn in their direction. "Yo," says Heechul, sauntering in.
"Who are you?" is asked in high accented Korean; it makes Hankyung seem like a native. Heechul doesn't answer. He smiles instead, and motions towards Hankyung, looking back at Sungmin. Sungmin beams and then is ducking underneath the black haired guy's guard to punch him in the stomach, making him hit the floor. Sungmin turns to the two holding Hankyung, hits one in the nose, making him scream in pain, and the other on the chin. Then, as the rest suddenly come forward to extract revenge, he turns his attention towards them.
Now that no one is holding him up, Hankyung crumples to his knees, hands braced against the floor, coughing. Heechul kneels in front of him. "Hey," he says softly. Hankyung lifts his head. Where there was once one black eye, now there are two. His lip is split and bleeding, face a mess of cuts and bruises. "You look like shit," Heechul tells him. Hankyung actually laughs, and then spits, blood splattering against the floor.
"Heechul," he begins, and then his eyes go wide and he pulls Heechul down to the floor and covers him with his body, just as a metal pipe swings down. It hits Hankyung's back with a sickening crack and he chokes out, the sound painful against Heechul's ear where his face is practically squashed against Hankyung's shoulder. For a second he can't help it; he clutches at Hankyung's arms, and then he says, "Oh please," and as the pipe descends one more time, he catches it with his hands and with a twist of his wrists, pulls it from his attacker's hands. It's not about strength, it's about finesse, and Heechul can just about manage that. He tosses the pipe to the side, and now that there is no more danger, Hankyung falls away from him to lie, coughing, against the floor.
Heechul stands up, Hankyung's blood wet against his neck. The man formerly with a metal pipe is the guy with the long black hair. Sungmin seems to be winning against the three people he's fighting against. The others that Sungmin forced to the ground are beginning to recover.
Heechul points down to Hankyung lying limply on the floor. "Mine," he says in Chinese, as best he can. "Mine."
A sneer and then a fist whistling towards him. He ducks, just in time, and then the doors bang open again and a stream of people rush in. Kangin is at the forefront, although it's Donghae who throws the first punch. Kibum is soon behind him, delivering a roundhouse kick to someone's face, followed by Eeteuk, a length of chain wrapped around his hands, Eunhyuk with his own pipe. Yehsung and Shindong are cheering when they come in, and Heechul has to admit that it's been a long time since they had to do anything like this, so he doesn't blame them for being excited. Henry is last, but definitely not least, as he knocks the legs out from someone about to sneak up on Donghae.
The guy is sufficiently distracted. All it takes is one well aimed knee from Heechul to have him curled up on the ground, at which point Kangin is on him. The whole thing is over in a matter of minutes. This is their territory, they'll fight well to keep it that way.
Kangin stands back up. "Mine," Heechul tells the prone figure on the floor.
---
Ryeowook and Zhou Mi were outside, ready and waiting to fix any injuries, but there aren't that many, apart from Hankyung. Eventually he is helped onto Kangin's back and they take him to Heechul's house, which is closer and the least likely to have any questioning parents. He is placed on Heechul's bed where he groans in pain once and then is still. Ryeowook gets bandages and warm water and towels and then leaves Heechul to it.
He pressed the damp towel to Hankyung's bloody mouth a little harder than necessary, just to hear Hankyung hiss in pain, and then Heechul explodes. "Good! I'm glad it hurts! What the fuck was that all about?"
Hankyung groans again, and when he speaks, his voice is hoarse. "Why were you there?"
"No," says Heechul. "I asked first. Now tell me what that was about or you'll wish you were back there because it wouldn't hurt so bad."
Haltingly, Hankyung tells him everything: the gang that he'd been sucked into in China because he'd thought being a dancer wasn't cool enough, the increasing feeling of being out of his depth and wanting out but being unable to go because he'd seen what they did to those who tried to leave. Soon, he came to realise that the only way he could get out was to leave the country. He confided in his parents, who refused to believe it was as bad as that, so came his desperate bid to get expelled, finally culminating in an attempt at burning the school gym down. Coming to Korea and feeling, for the first time in a while, that he was actually free, until he met Heechul, who tried to tell him to behave, just like the gang back in China -- here, Heechul winced. No wonder Hankyung had refused. Their almost relationship was brushed over, Hankyung jumping instead to opening the day the Saturday morning after Heechul had run out and finding the leader of the Chinese gang standing on his doorstep.
"I was so scared," says Hankyung, voice little more than a whisper. "I thought he'd come to -- I don't know, I was just glad my parents weren't home, but he seemed cheerful. Said that he was glad he'd found me, said that he had something to show me. He led me to that warehouse and there was a new gang, all Korean! How wonderful he seemed to find it, said that I was the last missing piece. I was his Chinese link, he said, and god, I was too terrified to say no."
"But you did?" The first black eye seemed to suddenly make sense. Hankyung nods a little.
"This lunch time, I told him that I wanted out. He didn't take it well, like I knew he wouldn't. He hit me and then told me to think about exactly what I was doing. Then, after school, he confronted me. I told him no. I still wanted out. And I guess you saw what happened after that."
"And you couldn't tell me this why?"
"I didn't want you involved." Hankyung's eyes are lowered. "I mean, it's not like I knew you had a fighting squad behind the scenes, I thought it was just you and Sungmin and Kyuhyun, and I didn't exactly trust you to stay out of it."
"Well, you were right there." Heechul drops the subject, for now. He stands to patch Hankyung up as well he can, ignoring it whenever Hankyung exclaims in pain. Once he's finished, he moves to sit on the side of the bed, staring over to the window. After a moment's hesitation, he says, "You know that I barely eat."
"I'd noticed," says Hankyung's voice quietly behind him. It's not sarcastic but instead something sympathetic.
"When I was young, I had no friends. I was too -- maybe I was just too weird, too engrossed in myself or games to attract anyone. I was so lonely. I told myself that maybe if I was thinner, people would like me. Maybe my parents would be around more. They were never there to check so I stopped eating dinner and instead just ate lunch. I wasn't fat in any sense of the word, but I was young and desperate. When I moved in middle school, I met Donghae and Kibum, then Sungmin. The others followed. I knew it was stupid, but I became convinced that it was because I only ate one meal that these people had become my friends. When we moved to high school, I stopped eating lunch and started eating dinner as the substitute. The others know and try to stop me, but you should know that I don't let other people tell me what to do. Even now that I know that I have friends because they like me, I still can't make myself eat more than twice a day."
"Heechul..."
"I've eaten five times in the ten days since you said I was just a past-time to you."
"I'm sorry I said that," Hankyung murmurs. "All I could think of was the possibility of you getting involved, and maybe getting hurt because of me, and I couldn't take that, Heechul. I said the only thing I could think of to make you leave me alone."
"Only I didn't."
"You can be really bitter."
Heechul snorts. "Yeah, well, you had just stomped all over my heart."
"I didn't think you'd care that much."
"Oh, I cared." Heechul goes to flop down on the bed and falls across Hankyung's lap. Hankyung stares down at him, eyes unreadable. "I cared." His voice is barely there, as Hankyung lowers his head to touch his lips to his. It makes Heechul's stomach clench in a way that he isn't sure that he likes.
"Go out with me," says Hankyung, voice quite tense and nervous. "Go out with me and let me hold your hand and kiss you whenever and let me be someone other than that person you sometimes allow in your bed. Let me be something more than just a quick fuck on your living room sofa, and let me tell you that I love you, because Heechul, I really think I do."
"You loser," Heechul tells him, and kisses him quickly to stop himself from saying, God, me too.
"So you just ran out?"
They're walking down the main street, a cappucino in Sungmin's hand, a black coffee with a dash of chocolate syrup in Heechul's. It's getting colder now, winter setting in, and Sungmin has a scarf wrapped around the bottom half of his face. Heechul, who feels the cold a lot more than Sungmin does, didn't realise that he was living in the South Pole when he left the house this morning and so doesn't even have gloves. He is bitterly, bitterly cold, but can't do a thing about it because he doesn't have any money to spend. It was Sungmin who paid for the coffees in an attempt at warming themselves up, because Heechul spent all his money on alcohol the night before, trying to forget that he'd kissed Hankyung's chest after sex.
After sex.
"What was I supposed to do?" The coffee is strong and makes him grimace a little, but at least it's chasing away his hangover. "Now he probably thinks that I'm in love with him."
"But you aren't?"
Heechul glares. "No, of course I'm not! I don't even know what made me do it, but I don't like him. At all."
"You keep saying that, but the fact is, you get on with him really well."
"What makes you believe that?" It's defensive.
"You mean beyond the fact that you both practically ignore Kyuhyun and I at lunch time because you're too busy talking to each other." Sungmin's eyes crinkle above his scarf, and it's enough for Heechul to know that he's grinning. "Well, if that can be called talking. You just seem to insult or come on to each other."
"That doesn't mean anything."
"You always watch each other. You kiss in the hallway. You get jealous when he talks to anyone that you haven't given permission for."
"Well, he's my property."
"And you kissed his chest."
Half an hour later, waiting in a queue as Sungmin buys a new shirt, Heechul suddenly grabs his arm. "Oh god, I like him."
"Finally!" cheers Sungmin. "You've only been sleeping with him for two months!"
---
cinderella: pretend for a second that you don't have to agree with everything sungmin says.
gamekyu: fuck you
gamekyu: i'm not whipped
cinderella: whatever
cinderella: do you think i should tell hankyung that i like him?
cinderella: i mean, in a hypothetical situation
cinderella: if i did
gamekyu: lol 'hypothetical situation'
gamekyu: you clearly like him
cinderella: asdlk;asd fuck you
---
"Kyuhyun doesn't think I should tell him," he tells Sungmin come Monday morning, which means that Kyuhyun is in the doghouse for the rest of the day; not that he really cares, he just works on one of his music compositions, although he does flip Heechul off more than once during the day. The fact is, Heechul has used him as an excuse. He doesn't want to tell Hankyung, mostly because he probably already ruined what they have with his stunt on Friday and he doesn't want to fuck it up even more. That's why, when he sees Hankyung in History, he pretends like nothing happened.
"My house tonight?" he asks, perching on Hankyung's desk. There's no reply; Hankyung is staring at his phone. "Hankyung?" Nothing. He clicks his fingers in front of Hankyung's face, and Hankyung jumps and finally looks up at his face. "Hey," says Heechul.
"Oh, hi, sorry." Hankyung still seems distracted somehow. "Did you say something?"
Heechul isn't too sure whether he's happy Hankyung isn't bringing up what happened on Friday, or angry that Hankyung's attention isn't fully focused on him. "My house? Tonight?"
"Oh." Hankyung looks shifty. He doesn't wear such a look well. "Sorry, I can't do tonight."
"Oh?" Heechul pauses, but Hankyung doesn't offer any reason why he's brushing Heechul off. Something begins to build in his stomach, something which he tries to tell himself isn't hurt. He doesn't care that he's just been brushed off. He knows that Hankyung considers this to be a lot more casual than Heechul possibly does. Hankyung is perfectly in his right to turn down the offer. It's not like they're dating or anything.
He tries to pretend that he's not flouncing off, but it's hard when you are actually flouncing off.
---
Hankyung doesn't turn up for lunch. It's the first time in about two weeks that Heechul has gone without eating anything at lunch, and he feels it. The coffee burns his mouth but at least it soothes the hunger pangs a little. He talks to Kyuhyun about what he's working on, and gossips with Sungmin about a girl in Sungmin's art class, and tries to hide how bored he is. He's horrified to realise that Hankyung has managed to worm his way into his life and take over everything. It's just not fair, considering he clearly means nothing to Hankyung.
He ignores Hankyung when Hankyung comes into Maths, and Hankyung leaves by the door at the back of the classroom so he can't ignore him at the end of the lesson either. He feels irrationally annoyed that Hankyung doesn't seem to have realised that he's irrationally annoyed. He bitches about it all the way down to the gates, at which point he stops, because down the bottom of the street is a head of blonde hair talking to someone. The someone is slightly taller, long black hair tied back, rather more filled out than Hankyung. As they watch, the stranger throws an arm around Hankyung's shoulders, grinning, and pulls him around the corner.
"Oh, I see," says Heechul, his mouth a thin line of anger.
"Oh," says Sungmin. "There is no way they're sleeping together. I mean, ew, did you see his hair?"
Heechul shrugs. "That wasn't what I meant. I just see who I've been brushed off for."
"And you're prettier than him, right?" Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. "Didn't you see Hankyung's face? He was terrified."
"Really?" Sungmin is the only one who seems interested. Heechul is too busy storming off.
---
Hankyung misses lunch again the next day. According to Siwon, who Sungmin interrogates, Hankyung turned up at the Chinese lesson immediately afterwards, but was late and seemed distracted somehow. Heechul doesn't get a chance to talk to him at all, because Hankying either avoids him, or is texting someone when Heechul gets close enough to talk.
The next day is the same, and it pisses him off, and when Heechul gets pissed off, he gets snippy, and by the end of the day, Sungmin is in a huff and Kyuhyun carries an air of being vaguely annoyed. Heechul is supposed to be going out for dinner with Donghae and Kibum and thinks about calling it off, but when he gets home he finds that there's nothing to eat in the house at all. In the end, he pulls on some jeans and a top and stomps off to meet the other two.
In the end, he enjoys himself. This is because Donghae is always oblivious to bad tempers and because Kibum just ignores him when he gets in a mood. By the end of the night, he's had a couple of drinks and he's actually laughing when they leave, Donghae simultaneously hanging off his shoulders and clinging to Kibum's hand. "We should probably take Kibum home first," Heechul says, reaching across to poke Kibum in the shoulder. "We need to make sure the baby gets home first."
"I'm going to hyung's," says Kibum, and Heechul hopes that he means Donghae's house and not his own, because that was never in the plans for tonight, but then Donghae leaves go of him to wrap his arms around Kibum and they stick each other's tongues down their throats, and yeah, okay, he meant Donghae's house.
"I miss sex," Heechul says sadly. Kibum breaks away from Donghae, who makes a miserable sound, to gasp something at him. "Huh?"
"What happened to that guy?" was what Kibum had asked. Heechul shrugs.
"The fucker keeps blowing me off," he says, and then adds, "And not in the good way. He keeps cancelling on me and ignoring me."
"Is this still the guy who you don't like?"
"No," says Heechul. "This is the guy that I didn't think I liked but I now think I do."
"Oh," says Kibum. "You like him?"
"Shut up."
"Kibummie," moans Donghae unhappily, and Kibum is distracted once more. Heechul stands next to them, watching the world go by. A young couple goes past, the girl clinging to the arm of the boy. A couple of businessmen, their suits dishevelled because they're drunk. A group of boys down the end of the road, in the midst of it a head of very familiar looking blonde hair.
"Hey," he says, and taps Donghae on the shoulder. "Hey. Oh, for god's sake." He takes hold of the back of Donghae's collar and wrenches, so that Donghae falls backwards, almost toppling over and taking Kibum with him. Before they can complain, Heechul says, "Remember that guy we were just talking about?"
"Fucking hell, what about him?"
"He's down there." He points to the group, who hold a rather threatening air about them. "The blonde one."
Even Donghae now appears interested. Together, they watch as the group heckles a couple of workers who walk past, and then turn on the girl walking quickly behind them. For a second, it seems like things are going to get nasty, but she pushes through them, head down, and they let her go, though they shout after her. Hankyung, Heechul notices, is hanging back. This is something the person next to him picks up on, turning and half-looming over him. Hankyung's head bobs, and when the guy turns back around, Heechul recognises him as the guy from outside school two days ago.
"You're sleeping with him? Did you know that he was like that?"
"I knew he used to be in a gang," says Heechul. "I didn't know he was still in one."
"He looks scared." Donghae, as always, percieves things that they miss. Heechul squints and just about manages to make out the tense line of Hankyung's mouth. He doesn't know about scared though.
---
"I saw you last night."
Hankyung's head lifts off the table. He looks tired and stressed, shadows beginning under his eyes. He blinks slowly once, twice, and then says, "What?"
"Last night, in town. With some guys."
Hankyung's face closes off. "So?"
"So who were they?"
"Why should I tell you?"
Good question. Heechul kind of wants to say "Because we've been sleeping together for the past two months," but knows that he can't, because that suggests that he's a lot more invested in this semi-relationship than he wants to admit. His pride doesn't allow him to. Instead, he says, in a haughty voice, "I just like to know what my property is getting up to behind my back."
"Your property?" Hankyung's expression is ugly, his tone pissed off. "I'm not your property, Heechul. I'm no one's property."
Heechul sits down on Hankyung's desk, sweeping Hankyung's books and pens from it as he goes. "You're either with me, Hankyung," he says, as Hankyung looks down at the mess of things. "Or against me."
Hankyung looks up, eyes narrowed. "I was never with you, Heechul. What we had wasn't anything other than a pastime."
"Then I guess you're against me," says Heechul quietly, and when he leaves, he makes sure to drag his hand over Hankyung's chest and across his throat for the last time.
---
"Wait, what?"
Heechul doesn't want to have to say it again. What happened two hours ago with Hankyung still smarts, and he's just relayed the whole thing to Sungmin, as the third person in their Biology group does the work set to them without even questioning. Heechul always makes sure to pull a complete geek in with them, because then they'll pass the class and can rely on the fact that the geek will have no friends to stop any gossip getting spread around, and this time, Heechul really doesn't want gossip. It's bad enough that most of the school must know that Hankyung and him are no longer a thing, but to have it be known that Heechul actually cares, that's unbearable.
"And he just accepted it?"
"Of course he just fucking accepted it. What was it to him? I was just someone he had slept with. He was right, he didn't have to tell me what he was up to."
"Heechul, I'm so sor--"
Heechul crashes to his feet, stool falling backwards with a bang, and leaves the classroom as fast as he can without appearing to run. He can't stand to have Sungmin's pity, he can't stand to have anyone feeling sorry for him. He's Kim Heechul, he doesn't need sympathy and he certainly doesn't need Hankyung.
---
Now that Hankyung is against him, he is no longer allowed the luxury of blonde hair. The packet of hair dye that Heechul leaves in his locker is dropped into the nearest bin. It's enough for the rest of the school to know that war has begun again.
---
This time, it's all Heechul. He knocks books off desks, pours things into Hankyung's bag, steals Hankyung's things and drops them out of third floor windows. Hankyung never retaliates. The one time Heechul trips him up in PE, Hankyung just gets to his feet and carries on without even looking at him. The whole thing leaves Heechul with a bad taste in his mouth, but he can't work out what else he's supposed to do.
---
"You're miserable without him."
The truth comes not from Sungmin, but instead from Kyuhyun, one lunch time about a week after the break up of whatever he and Hankyung had. It is said in a quiet, matter-of-fact way, and so Heechul isn't sure how to deny it. He stays silent. It would be a lie, whatever he said, because the truth is that he misses Hankyung, and in some way, blames himself for losing him. Everything had been fine up until that idiotic move he pulled. On some level, he thinks that that scared Hankyung away from him.
"I'm stupid," he says, and they spend the rest of the break in silence.
---
When Heechul walks into Maths, Hankyung is already sitting there, face like thunder, with a black eye. If things had been different, Heechul would have asked what had happened. Instead, he pauses on his way past and notices Hankyung's shoulders tense. He bends down. "I see someone managed what I've always wanted to do," he says, and hopes that it hurts more than the eye. He pushes on.
---
The guy with the long black hair is waiting outside of the school again. Something tells Heechul that it's not a social visit that is awaiting Hankyung, and so he makes the others loiter for a while until Hankyung comes out. When he comes out of the gates and sees the guy, his face changes. This time, Heechul can see the scared look on Hankyung's face, but also the resignition. The man says something to him, but it's in Chinese. Hankyung answers back in Chinese, and two heads turn to Kyuhyun, who is taking Chinese.
"No," he translates. "I told you, no."
There is an angry sounding reply that Kyuhyun doesn't understand a word of, a hand closes around Hankyung's collar. Hankyung doesn't fight back, and is dragged down the road. After a quick glance at each other, the other three follow.
They are lead to what must once have been a warehouse. Hankyung is pulled outside, and there is shouting and cat-calling from within. The door has been left slightly ajar, and they look inside just in time to see the guy with the black hair hit Hankyung in the jar and send him flying. Sungmin gasps and then claps his hand to his mouth to hide the noise. Heechul stares. Hankyung stays down, sprawled on his front on the floor. The guy sneers at him in Chinese, and two of the others step forward and pull Hankyung up by the shoulders.
A question is asked. Hankyung shakes his head and a knee impacts with his stomach, making him cry out and double up. The word that Kyuhyun said meant no is repeated over and over, Hankyung's voice desperate. With each refusal comes another hit; Heechul turns to Kyuhyun. "What's Chinese for mine?" he asks, voice hard. Frowning in confusion, Kyuhyun tells him. Heechul repeats it, pulls his phone out of his pocket and throws it at Kyuhyun. "Call Kangin and the others. Tell them where we are."
Kyuhyun nods, and Heechul nods at Sungmin, who kicks the door open. There's no reason for it other than to make an entrance, something they both like to do. Heads turn in their direction. "Yo," says Heechul, sauntering in.
"Who are you?" is asked in high accented Korean; it makes Hankyung seem like a native. Heechul doesn't answer. He smiles instead, and motions towards Hankyung, looking back at Sungmin. Sungmin beams and then is ducking underneath the black haired guy's guard to punch him in the stomach, making him hit the floor. Sungmin turns to the two holding Hankyung, hits one in the nose, making him scream in pain, and the other on the chin. Then, as the rest suddenly come forward to extract revenge, he turns his attention towards them.
Now that no one is holding him up, Hankyung crumples to his knees, hands braced against the floor, coughing. Heechul kneels in front of him. "Hey," he says softly. Hankyung lifts his head. Where there was once one black eye, now there are two. His lip is split and bleeding, face a mess of cuts and bruises. "You look like shit," Heechul tells him. Hankyung actually laughs, and then spits, blood splattering against the floor.
"Heechul," he begins, and then his eyes go wide and he pulls Heechul down to the floor and covers him with his body, just as a metal pipe swings down. It hits Hankyung's back with a sickening crack and he chokes out, the sound painful against Heechul's ear where his face is practically squashed against Hankyung's shoulder. For a second he can't help it; he clutches at Hankyung's arms, and then he says, "Oh please," and as the pipe descends one more time, he catches it with his hands and with a twist of his wrists, pulls it from his attacker's hands. It's not about strength, it's about finesse, and Heechul can just about manage that. He tosses the pipe to the side, and now that there is no more danger, Hankyung falls away from him to lie, coughing, against the floor.
Heechul stands up, Hankyung's blood wet against his neck. The man formerly with a metal pipe is the guy with the long black hair. Sungmin seems to be winning against the three people he's fighting against. The others that Sungmin forced to the ground are beginning to recover.
Heechul points down to Hankyung lying limply on the floor. "Mine," he says in Chinese, as best he can. "Mine."
A sneer and then a fist whistling towards him. He ducks, just in time, and then the doors bang open again and a stream of people rush in. Kangin is at the forefront, although it's Donghae who throws the first punch. Kibum is soon behind him, delivering a roundhouse kick to someone's face, followed by Eeteuk, a length of chain wrapped around his hands, Eunhyuk with his own pipe. Yehsung and Shindong are cheering when they come in, and Heechul has to admit that it's been a long time since they had to do anything like this, so he doesn't blame them for being excited. Henry is last, but definitely not least, as he knocks the legs out from someone about to sneak up on Donghae.
The guy is sufficiently distracted. All it takes is one well aimed knee from Heechul to have him curled up on the ground, at which point Kangin is on him. The whole thing is over in a matter of minutes. This is their territory, they'll fight well to keep it that way.
Kangin stands back up. "Mine," Heechul tells the prone figure on the floor.
---
Ryeowook and Zhou Mi were outside, ready and waiting to fix any injuries, but there aren't that many, apart from Hankyung. Eventually he is helped onto Kangin's back and they take him to Heechul's house, which is closer and the least likely to have any questioning parents. He is placed on Heechul's bed where he groans in pain once and then is still. Ryeowook gets bandages and warm water and towels and then leaves Heechul to it.
He pressed the damp towel to Hankyung's bloody mouth a little harder than necessary, just to hear Hankyung hiss in pain, and then Heechul explodes. "Good! I'm glad it hurts! What the fuck was that all about?"
Hankyung groans again, and when he speaks, his voice is hoarse. "Why were you there?"
"No," says Heechul. "I asked first. Now tell me what that was about or you'll wish you were back there because it wouldn't hurt so bad."
Haltingly, Hankyung tells him everything: the gang that he'd been sucked into in China because he'd thought being a dancer wasn't cool enough, the increasing feeling of being out of his depth and wanting out but being unable to go because he'd seen what they did to those who tried to leave. Soon, he came to realise that the only way he could get out was to leave the country. He confided in his parents, who refused to believe it was as bad as that, so came his desperate bid to get expelled, finally culminating in an attempt at burning the school gym down. Coming to Korea and feeling, for the first time in a while, that he was actually free, until he met Heechul, who tried to tell him to behave, just like the gang back in China -- here, Heechul winced. No wonder Hankyung had refused. Their almost relationship was brushed over, Hankyung jumping instead to opening the day the Saturday morning after Heechul had run out and finding the leader of the Chinese gang standing on his doorstep.
"I was so scared," says Hankyung, voice little more than a whisper. "I thought he'd come to -- I don't know, I was just glad my parents weren't home, but he seemed cheerful. Said that he was glad he'd found me, said that he had something to show me. He led me to that warehouse and there was a new gang, all Korean! How wonderful he seemed to find it, said that I was the last missing piece. I was his Chinese link, he said, and god, I was too terrified to say no."
"But you did?" The first black eye seemed to suddenly make sense. Hankyung nods a little.
"This lunch time, I told him that I wanted out. He didn't take it well, like I knew he wouldn't. He hit me and then told me to think about exactly what I was doing. Then, after school, he confronted me. I told him no. I still wanted out. And I guess you saw what happened after that."
"And you couldn't tell me this why?"
"I didn't want you involved." Hankyung's eyes are lowered. "I mean, it's not like I knew you had a fighting squad behind the scenes, I thought it was just you and Sungmin and Kyuhyun, and I didn't exactly trust you to stay out of it."
"Well, you were right there." Heechul drops the subject, for now. He stands to patch Hankyung up as well he can, ignoring it whenever Hankyung exclaims in pain. Once he's finished, he moves to sit on the side of the bed, staring over to the window. After a moment's hesitation, he says, "You know that I barely eat."
"I'd noticed," says Hankyung's voice quietly behind him. It's not sarcastic but instead something sympathetic.
"When I was young, I had no friends. I was too -- maybe I was just too weird, too engrossed in myself or games to attract anyone. I was so lonely. I told myself that maybe if I was thinner, people would like me. Maybe my parents would be around more. They were never there to check so I stopped eating dinner and instead just ate lunch. I wasn't fat in any sense of the word, but I was young and desperate. When I moved in middle school, I met Donghae and Kibum, then Sungmin. The others followed. I knew it was stupid, but I became convinced that it was because I only ate one meal that these people had become my friends. When we moved to high school, I stopped eating lunch and started eating dinner as the substitute. The others know and try to stop me, but you should know that I don't let other people tell me what to do. Even now that I know that I have friends because they like me, I still can't make myself eat more than twice a day."
"Heechul..."
"I've eaten five times in the ten days since you said I was just a past-time to you."
"I'm sorry I said that," Hankyung murmurs. "All I could think of was the possibility of you getting involved, and maybe getting hurt because of me, and I couldn't take that, Heechul. I said the only thing I could think of to make you leave me alone."
"Only I didn't."
"You can be really bitter."
Heechul snorts. "Yeah, well, you had just stomped all over my heart."
"I didn't think you'd care that much."
"Oh, I cared." Heechul goes to flop down on the bed and falls across Hankyung's lap. Hankyung stares down at him, eyes unreadable. "I cared." His voice is barely there, as Hankyung lowers his head to touch his lips to his. It makes Heechul's stomach clench in a way that he isn't sure that he likes.
"Go out with me," says Hankyung, voice quite tense and nervous. "Go out with me and let me hold your hand and kiss you whenever and let me be someone other than that person you sometimes allow in your bed. Let me be something more than just a quick fuck on your living room sofa, and let me tell you that I love you, because Heechul, I really think I do."
"You loser," Heechul tells him, and kisses him quickly to stop himself from saying, God, me too.