core; 1/2
2900w > sungmin; kyuhyun
for plumpkin♥, who i adore and want to squish
i tried fishing them out but feel free to point out errors
★
It started with a capybara.
To be exact, it started with something it said.
Sungmin is at the zoo this particular Tuesday morning. No one seems to like the zoo on Tuesdays which suits his Super Junior fame just fine (tourists are the exception because people who bother to fly on a plane to another country to go to the zoo are just delightfully exceptional).
(Why Everyone Goes to the Zoo on Anyday Other Than Tuesdays:
Wednesday: Everyone needs a mid-week break to go stare at polar bears.
Thursday: Most people regard Thursday as a fake Friday and most people like the zoo.
Friday: Just don't want to work.
Saturday: One doesn’t need any reason for doing anything on Saturdays. That includes violating Youtube’s replay button.
Sundays: Tiny humans need to be distracted. Human parents distract their offspring by allowing them to slam their palms on the glass walls of leopard enclosures.
Monday: People are usually depressed and upset after the weekend. Pandas are well-known anti-depressants.
Tuesday: No one needs to go to the zoo when they already have raging gorillas in the office. Office tragedies always happen on Tuesdays because it’s the day people realize they are really doomed to work. Forever.)
Staring at animals is a fairly therapeutic process for Sungmin. He does it whenever he is upset, which translates to ‘frequently, a lot, almost a hobby’. He is observing the plump brown thing, watching it feeds on grass when it suddenly turns to him and says, “Dig.”
Sungmin is astonished because, well, because animals are not supposed to talk. He looks around hastily but there is no one around to help prove that he is still sane and logical. Undefeated, he tries to provoke the animal into talking to him again but the zookeeper sees him tickling its nose with a blade of grass and shoos him. So Sungmin turns around and walks woodenly back to the dorm. He is no longer in the mood for lemurs.
For about ten minutes, he lays on his bed and wonders if the capybara had really meant ‘dick’, which is kinda rude, actually, since they have just met for the first time (although Sungmin has encountered worse on his cyworld from people he has never met). Then he decides otherwise. Nay, it’s definitely ‘dig’. The capybara’s pronunciation is pretty good.
So he gets up and starts to rummage for his old toolbox.
★
Technically, it started with a screw.
The zoo visit happened a month ago. Since then, he has been building and building and building. He honestly never thought this is how he’s going to apply his bachelor degree in automotive engineering. Google turns out to be very helpful too, i.e. he managed to find and download an entire step by step manual of How to Construct Your Own Monster & Take Down Your Neighbor’s Walls. He clicks on some other link on the same page and oh, it’s porn (even though the link clearly says ‘How to Unblock a Waste Pipe’ in the prim and proper Times New Roman font, no less). Eunhyuk fulfils best friend duties by watching it with him. After finishing the porn, Sungmin buys a second hand car off Gmarket. The seller - dousemewell143 - didn’t even ask for his name.
When he’s in rehearsals, he thinks of blue-maps of mechanical claws. Onstage, he sings into the microphone, all the while wondering if it would make a good clutch. During plane transits, while members prowl the duty free designer shops, he’d pick up exotic looking radio parts from the electronics store. At night, when everyone has fallen asleep, he silently creeps out with his toolbox and drives to the isolated large warehouse located at the outskirts of Seoul where he knocks and hammers away furiously. The warehouse belongs to his high school friend. To be more specific, it belongs to his high school friend’s father. So naturally, Jungmo is reluctant to loan it to him especially when Sungmin is highly unwilling to share with him the reason why he needs the place.
In the end, Tiffany’s phone number did the trick.
No one notices his weird behavior except Eunhyuk because best friends tend to notice things like that. In Sungmin’s own words, Eunhyuk is ‘one of those few people who pay attention to him’.
“Why are you so happy?” Eunhyuk asks. He’s more used to a worrying Sungmin.
Sungmin smiles.
“I’m just dreaming.”
★
Six months is both a long and short time in anyone’s world but this Sunday night, Sungmin finally packs his bag. He stares at his pink guitar. It is too insensible, too frivolous. This dream is dying; he has already created a new one. Maybe he should bring his nunchucks instead. He agonizes for seventeen long minutes before he picks up the guitar. It is big and clumsy but its heavy weight feels wholly reassuring against the small of Sungmin’s back. Music has always been his burden.
It’s time to say goodbye. Sungmin writes out the word on a piece of paper with a red pen. He sticks it onto the refrigerator’s door so that Shindong will be the first to see it and he’s another one of those ‘few people’. At the very least, Sungmin would like people to know that he’s gone even if they hardly appear to care when he’s around.
Then he walks out of the dorm.
★
Sungmin drives out to the warehouse and has just opened the doors when a voice rang out behind him.
“Woah…what is that.”
Sungmin whips around in shock. It is Kyuhyun, looking past him into the warehouse. He seems extremely awestruck (this is quite an understatement).
“You followed me?” Sungmin gasps.
The old Sungmin would have panicked when his secret is discovered. He would have pled with Kyuhyun, traded a lot of things for his silence. But after getting over his shock, the new Sungmin simply shrugs and moves on. Nothing is going to stop him. He won’t hang around for Kyuhyun’s answer, not when he’s about to embark on a search for his own.
He struts over to his machine; there is a strong sense of purpose in the way Sungmin carries himself tonight. Patting the shiny sleek metal bumper, he says to Kyuhyun - who has not managed to re-capture jaw control just yet-, “This is Molly.” There is a triumphant grin on his face.
Kyuhyun walks up to Molly who bears a faint resemblance to a tiny tank. Except she doesn’t sport a turret, numerous drills decorated her front instead. Molly looks like a small mean drilling machine. “Why. What. When. How. Why.” Kyuhyun presses his thumb experimentally onto the tip of a particularly vicious looking drill. It left a small temporary dent on the tip of Kyuhyun's thumb.
Sungmin opens Molly’s door and flings his bag into her. He slides into the driver’s seat, feeling only slightly like Sam Witwicky. Excitement colors his face.
“I’m going to the center of the Earth.”
To his surprise, Kyuhyun does not appear to be impressed or even astonished. Sungmin feels the familiar sting of mild insult on his skin. His show of incredibility is over, a smirk now hangs off Kyuhyun’s face. “Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?”
Sungmin frowns and takes a moment to deliberate over Kyuhyun’s question. “I guess I’m going to drive out to the nearest park and just dig my way in.”
To Kyuhyun’s surprise, that’s exactly what Sungmin did.
★
Molly’s drills are very efficient, Sungmin discovers it the picosecond he presses the big red button that says ‘Dig’. He tries waving goodbye to Kyuhyun who has tagged along to watch, but he doesn’t think he can see his wave amidst the dirt that is being thrown up towards the skies right now.
Oh. Well.
Sungmin is about to press the ‘Accelerate’ button when he hears pounding. Twisting his head to the right, he sees Kyuhyun hitting on Molly’s door. Kyuhyun’s eyes are narrowed, presumably to avoid getting sand in his eyes. It is a wise move, Sungmin thinks. There is a lot of soil getting thrown his way right now. Sungmin hits the ‘Stop Digging!’ button which is located beside the pink ‘Hit Me Baby’ button.
“What?” he says with a trace of annoyance.
Kyuhyun is taken aback. Sungmin is a nice person, rarely annoyed, always patient. He stutters at the change in Sungmin.,“W-what a-about Super Show Antarctica?” he swipes a hand across his sandy face.
Sungmin’s face scrunches up in deep thought. Then he says, with only a tiny speck of spite, “Screw super shows.” He is about to resume digging when the pounding sounds again.
“I’m coming with you,” Kyuhyun says, the shine of his enthusiasm high on his dirty cheeks.
“There’s no space for you,” Sungmin replies with the tone of one who’s asked to explain why one plus one equals two.
Kyuhyun gazes past Sungmin at the space beside him.
Sungmin follows his line of vision and sees his pink guitar, nestling comfortably in the passenger seat of the two-seater.
“No,” he says flatly.
Kyuhyun pouts and there’s only so much of himself that Sungmin can change tonight.
Ten minutes later, Molly disappears from the surface of Earth. Only a pink guitar remains behind to mark the spot she once stood on. It lies on the grass, staring up at the starlit skies. A few drops of water lands on its glossy surface. It is beginning to rain.
Meanwhile, Sungmin and Kyuhyun make their way down.
★
It is pitch black and Sungmin can hear Kyuhyun swallow. He presses on one of the many buttons on Molly’s dashboard and turns on her additional pair of headlights. It doesn’t help much, all they can see is dark brown dirt and the occasional earthworm/grasshopper/”Holy crap, moles are so cute.” around them. Sungmin keeps his hands on the steering wheel, even though there’s no need to steer. They are going in a straight line. The drilling is strangely muted, unlike the usual noise emitting from a construction site. Maybe because they are still driving through soft ground, Sungmin muses. The digital clock on Molly’s dash reads 02:48 in green. It has only been ten minutes since they went under. The radio has faded to static. Sungmin is about to switch it off when he hears something. He fiddles with the tuner and suddenly, a voice, clear as bells fills the car.
”…twenty four degree Celsius. You are still two hundred and seventy nine kilometers away from the center of the Earth. We look forward to your arrival. Have a pleasant journey. To repeat this message, please honk twice. To disconnect, please flip the bird.”
Sungmin and Kyuhyun have not spoken to each other since they entered Earth, each caught up in his own thoughts (namely, Sungmin: You're doing the right thing, Sungmin. You're doing the right thing, Sungmin. You're doing the right thing, Sungmin. Believe in yourself. Kyuhyun: I wonder if Sungmin hyung has brought chocolates). But it is now so quiet that Sungmin is sure neither of them is breathing. They stare at each other, mirroring the horror scribbled on their faces. At where they are right now, it is impossible for the radio to receive any signal.
”I’m sorry, we did not receive a response. To repeat this message, please honk twice. To disconnect, please flip the bird.”
Sungmin shakes his head slowly because he is a careful person by default. But Kyuhyun is an impulsive person by default and careful Sungmin always irritates him. He reaches over and presses the horn twice. Sungmin winces and braces himself for impact.
“Dear Visitor, welcome to Core. According to our readings, the oxygen content at your level is seventeen point five percent. The current temperature is twenty four degree Celsius. You are two hundred and seventy nine kilometers away from the center of the Earth. We look forward to your arrival. Have a pleasant journey. To repeat this message, please honk twice. To disconnect, please flip the bird.”
Sungmin and Kyuhyun take a minute to stress over their distressingly high anxiety levels.
“That voice sounds quite human.” Kyuhyun makes a wild attempt to be positive.
”I’m sorry, we did not receive a response. To repeat this message, please honk twice. To disconnect, please flip the bird.”
“I think she (I hope) means this,” Kyuhyun whispers before he sticks out his middle finger to no one in particular. “Why is the oxygen level so high underground? Who else needs oxygen besides us?”
”I’m sorry, we did not receive a response. To repeat this message, please honk twice. To disconnect, please flip the bird.”
Stumped, Kyuhyun gives Sungmin a beseeching look. In a flurry of panic, Sungmin rummages around and finds a parrot soft toy under Kyuhyun’s car seat. Very slowly and carefully, he turns the bird over, lays it on his lap and waits with abated breath.
”I’m sorry, we did not receive a response. To repeat this message, please honk-”
The radio announcement cuts and replaces itself with Jay Chou’s ‘Nunchucks’. They both heave great sighs of relief. Whoever needs those oxygen sure knows their music. Sungmin raps along softly and pretends he’s not worried. “It’s going to be fine,” he lies to both himself and Kyuhyun in a soothing tone, as if the radio hasn't just decided to have a nice little chat with them.
Kyuhyun nods eagerly because humans do quite like to deceive themselves.
All too soon, Jay fades away and Justin Bieber enters. “We need to conserve electricity,” Sungmin says and reaches over to switch off the radio.
“Hey! I like ‘Baby’,” Kyuhyun protests. Every single nagging episode Sungmin has subjected him to now floods back to Kyuhyun and accumulates into irritation. ‘Don’t waste electricity, switch off the lights/laptop/television/vibrator/whatever.’ Sungmin is always gentle with his reminders but it doesn’t help increase his popularity in the dorm. Yesung rather enjoys the feeling of having cotton in his ears when Sungmin is around.
“Well, that’s really sad, but everything happens for a reason,” Sungmin says sensibly.
Molly continues drilling on like the machine she is.
★
In the end, Sungmin lets Kyuhyun have his way because he is pretty bad at ending quarrels and would rather not start one. They travel without talking to each other; not on friendly enough terms to engage in conversation, not awkward enough to want to attempt at it. The silence doesn’t quite qualify as companionable though, so thank God for radio. Sungmin looks at the clock, 04:32. Then he glances at the battery life indicator and scowls. Not exactly rainbow news. He wants to switch off the radio but Kyuhyun is humming along to Jam Hsiao right now. He presses the ‘Accelerate’ button instead.
Approximately two hours ago, the almost human-like voice had said they were two hundred and seventy nine kilometers away from the center of the Earth.
Sungmin furrows his brows. Has Earth shrunk?
★
At 05:45, Molly ceases operations with a loud whine and Kyuhyun jerks awake. “Shit, I overslept? What time is the flight?” His mind wakes before the rest of his body does and for a while, he can only fret while he tries to peel open his eyes.
Sungmin is surprised. He guessed it happens to all members but Kyuhyun always seems so indifferent. Alright, he looks tired too, but who isn't?
“We’re not going to catch any flight today,” Sungmin says slowly and clearly. He is careful to divert the glaring light of the torchlight away from Kyuhyun's eyes.
“What? Why?” Kyuhyun demands in bewilderment. He sits up straighter in his seat and then the darkness sinks in. “Oh,” he blinks as panic eases away from his face. “What happened? Why are we stopping? Why did you switch off the light?”
Sungmin directs the torchlight at the battery life indicator. The needle is pointing at the word ‘Dead’.
Kyuhyun flushes as he recalls Sungmin’s warning from earlier on. “You know, it’s not like the radio made such a big difference on electricity consumption,” Kyuhyun says, a little more brashly than intended, even though Sungmin hasn’t said anything.
A small sad smile appears on Sungmin’s face. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m always being overly cautious,” he says wistfully, his voice soft and regretful. The light is casting tricky shadows on the curve of his cheeks. Kyuhyun frowns because there’s certainly nothing wistful about getting stuck hundreds of feet underground. “I don’t know why I didn’t consider Molly’s battery life this time though. The drilling used up so much electricity,” Sungmin laments.
Sungmin’s good natured concession only serves to embarrass Kyuhyun even more. There is also a tiny twinge of guilt poking his conscience. The members have, on more than one occasion, mock Sungmin for his meticulosity, labeling him as ‘girly’. For a while, Kyuhyun wonders if Sungmin knows about those times they’ve done so off camera when he’s not around.
That would be very unfortunate.
“What now?” Kyuhyun practically barks, finding it difficult to look at Sungmin now.
“Shall we dig?” Sungmin flexes his fingers, sad smiles all gone now.
“Shen me!” Kyuhyun squawks in Chinese with his perfect pronunciation.
Sungmin turns and tries to open the door at his side, pushing against the earth with all his might. Suddenly, Molly moves.
Kyuhyun’s ‘Did you feel that?’ coincides exactly with the moment the earth beneath Molly’s wheels gives way and the possibility of it happening is infinite (the largest super computer in the world will not be able to hold the amount of zeros in the calculation of its possibility), but Sungmin is very convinced that they are currently free falling.
“Is this very bad?” Kyuhyun prepares to cower.
“This is very bad.” Sungmin is affirmative.
They start screaming.
★
shen me > what
i wanted to write alot about sungmin, actually. but in the end, i guess my objective is not to try and approximate the real sungmin (i honestly can't either). i just want him to have an adventure.
pls don't read too much into kyu's characterization :3
for plumpkin♥, who i adore and want to squish
i tried fishing them out but feel free to point out errors
★
It started with a capybara.
To be exact, it started with something it said.
Sungmin is at the zoo this particular Tuesday morning. No one seems to like the zoo on Tuesdays which suits his Super Junior fame just fine (tourists are the exception because people who bother to fly on a plane to another country to go to the zoo are just delightfully exceptional).
(Why Everyone Goes to the Zoo on Anyday Other Than Tuesdays:
Wednesday: Everyone needs a mid-week break to go stare at polar bears.
Thursday: Most people regard Thursday as a fake Friday and most people like the zoo.
Friday: Just don't want to work.
Saturday: One doesn’t need any reason for doing anything on Saturdays. That includes violating Youtube’s replay button.
Sundays: Tiny humans need to be distracted. Human parents distract their offspring by allowing them to slam their palms on the glass walls of leopard enclosures.
Monday: People are usually depressed and upset after the weekend. Pandas are well-known anti-depressants.
Tuesday: No one needs to go to the zoo when they already have raging gorillas in the office. Office tragedies always happen on Tuesdays because it’s the day people realize they are really doomed to work. Forever.)
Staring at animals is a fairly therapeutic process for Sungmin. He does it whenever he is upset, which translates to ‘frequently, a lot, almost a hobby’. He is observing the plump brown thing, watching it feeds on grass when it suddenly turns to him and says, “Dig.”
Sungmin is astonished because, well, because animals are not supposed to talk. He looks around hastily but there is no one around to help prove that he is still sane and logical. Undefeated, he tries to provoke the animal into talking to him again but the zookeeper sees him tickling its nose with a blade of grass and shoos him. So Sungmin turns around and walks woodenly back to the dorm. He is no longer in the mood for lemurs.
For about ten minutes, he lays on his bed and wonders if the capybara had really meant ‘dick’, which is kinda rude, actually, since they have just met for the first time (although Sungmin has encountered worse on his cyworld from people he has never met). Then he decides otherwise. Nay, it’s definitely ‘dig’. The capybara’s pronunciation is pretty good.
So he gets up and starts to rummage for his old toolbox.
★
Technically, it started with a screw.
The zoo visit happened a month ago. Since then, he has been building and building and building. He honestly never thought this is how he’s going to apply his bachelor degree in automotive engineering. Google turns out to be very helpful too, i.e. he managed to find and download an entire step by step manual of How to Construct Your Own Monster & Take Down Your Neighbor’s Walls. He clicks on some other link on the same page and oh, it’s porn (even though the link clearly says ‘How to Unblock a Waste Pipe’ in the prim and proper Times New Roman font, no less). Eunhyuk fulfils best friend duties by watching it with him. After finishing the porn, Sungmin buys a second hand car off Gmarket. The seller - dousemewell143 - didn’t even ask for his name.
When he’s in rehearsals, he thinks of blue-maps of mechanical claws. Onstage, he sings into the microphone, all the while wondering if it would make a good clutch. During plane transits, while members prowl the duty free designer shops, he’d pick up exotic looking radio parts from the electronics store. At night, when everyone has fallen asleep, he silently creeps out with his toolbox and drives to the isolated large warehouse located at the outskirts of Seoul where he knocks and hammers away furiously. The warehouse belongs to his high school friend. To be more specific, it belongs to his high school friend’s father. So naturally, Jungmo is reluctant to loan it to him especially when Sungmin is highly unwilling to share with him the reason why he needs the place.
In the end, Tiffany’s phone number did the trick.
No one notices his weird behavior except Eunhyuk because best friends tend to notice things like that. In Sungmin’s own words, Eunhyuk is ‘one of those few people who pay attention to him’.
“Why are you so happy?” Eunhyuk asks. He’s more used to a worrying Sungmin.
Sungmin smiles.
“I’m just dreaming.”
★
Six months is both a long and short time in anyone’s world but this Sunday night, Sungmin finally packs his bag. He stares at his pink guitar. It is too insensible, too frivolous. This dream is dying; he has already created a new one. Maybe he should bring his nunchucks instead. He agonizes for seventeen long minutes before he picks up the guitar. It is big and clumsy but its heavy weight feels wholly reassuring against the small of Sungmin’s back. Music has always been his burden.
It’s time to say goodbye. Sungmin writes out the word on a piece of paper with a red pen. He sticks it onto the refrigerator’s door so that Shindong will be the first to see it and he’s another one of those ‘few people’. At the very least, Sungmin would like people to know that he’s gone even if they hardly appear to care when he’s around.
Then he walks out of the dorm.
★
Sungmin drives out to the warehouse and has just opened the doors when a voice rang out behind him.
“Woah…what is that.”
Sungmin whips around in shock. It is Kyuhyun, looking past him into the warehouse. He seems extremely awestruck (this is quite an understatement).
“You followed me?” Sungmin gasps.
The old Sungmin would have panicked when his secret is discovered. He would have pled with Kyuhyun, traded a lot of things for his silence. But after getting over his shock, the new Sungmin simply shrugs and moves on. Nothing is going to stop him. He won’t hang around for Kyuhyun’s answer, not when he’s about to embark on a search for his own.
He struts over to his machine; there is a strong sense of purpose in the way Sungmin carries himself tonight. Patting the shiny sleek metal bumper, he says to Kyuhyun - who has not managed to re-capture jaw control just yet-, “This is Molly.” There is a triumphant grin on his face.
Kyuhyun walks up to Molly who bears a faint resemblance to a tiny tank. Except she doesn’t sport a turret, numerous drills decorated her front instead. Molly looks like a small mean drilling machine. “Why. What. When. How. Why.” Kyuhyun presses his thumb experimentally onto the tip of a particularly vicious looking drill. It left a small temporary dent on the tip of Kyuhyun's thumb.
Sungmin opens Molly’s door and flings his bag into her. He slides into the driver’s seat, feeling only slightly like Sam Witwicky. Excitement colors his face.
“I’m going to the center of the Earth.”
To his surprise, Kyuhyun does not appear to be impressed or even astonished. Sungmin feels the familiar sting of mild insult on his skin. His show of incredibility is over, a smirk now hangs off Kyuhyun’s face. “Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?”
Sungmin frowns and takes a moment to deliberate over Kyuhyun’s question. “I guess I’m going to drive out to the nearest park and just dig my way in.”
To Kyuhyun’s surprise, that’s exactly what Sungmin did.
★
Molly’s drills are very efficient, Sungmin discovers it the picosecond he presses the big red button that says ‘Dig’. He tries waving goodbye to Kyuhyun who has tagged along to watch, but he doesn’t think he can see his wave amidst the dirt that is being thrown up towards the skies right now.
Oh. Well.
Sungmin is about to press the ‘Accelerate’ button when he hears pounding. Twisting his head to the right, he sees Kyuhyun hitting on Molly’s door. Kyuhyun’s eyes are narrowed, presumably to avoid getting sand in his eyes. It is a wise move, Sungmin thinks. There is a lot of soil getting thrown his way right now. Sungmin hits the ‘Stop Digging!’ button which is located beside the pink ‘Hit Me Baby’ button.
“What?” he says with a trace of annoyance.
Kyuhyun is taken aback. Sungmin is a nice person, rarely annoyed, always patient. He stutters at the change in Sungmin.,“W-what a-about Super Show Antarctica?” he swipes a hand across his sandy face.
Sungmin’s face scrunches up in deep thought. Then he says, with only a tiny speck of spite, “Screw super shows.” He is about to resume digging when the pounding sounds again.
“I’m coming with you,” Kyuhyun says, the shine of his enthusiasm high on his dirty cheeks.
“There’s no space for you,” Sungmin replies with the tone of one who’s asked to explain why one plus one equals two.
Kyuhyun gazes past Sungmin at the space beside him.
Sungmin follows his line of vision and sees his pink guitar, nestling comfortably in the passenger seat of the two-seater.
“No,” he says flatly.
Kyuhyun pouts and there’s only so much of himself that Sungmin can change tonight.
Ten minutes later, Molly disappears from the surface of Earth. Only a pink guitar remains behind to mark the spot she once stood on. It lies on the grass, staring up at the starlit skies. A few drops of water lands on its glossy surface. It is beginning to rain.
Meanwhile, Sungmin and Kyuhyun make their way down.
★
It is pitch black and Sungmin can hear Kyuhyun swallow. He presses on one of the many buttons on Molly’s dashboard and turns on her additional pair of headlights. It doesn’t help much, all they can see is dark brown dirt and the occasional earthworm/grasshopper/”Holy crap, moles are so cute.” around them. Sungmin keeps his hands on the steering wheel, even though there’s no need to steer. They are going in a straight line. The drilling is strangely muted, unlike the usual noise emitting from a construction site. Maybe because they are still driving through soft ground, Sungmin muses. The digital clock on Molly’s dash reads 02:48 in green. It has only been ten minutes since they went under. The radio has faded to static. Sungmin is about to switch it off when he hears something. He fiddles with the tuner and suddenly, a voice, clear as bells fills the car.
”…twenty four degree Celsius. You are still two hundred and seventy nine kilometers away from the center of the Earth. We look forward to your arrival. Have a pleasant journey. To repeat this message, please honk twice. To disconnect, please flip the bird.”
Sungmin and Kyuhyun have not spoken to each other since they entered Earth, each caught up in his own thoughts (namely, Sungmin: You're doing the right thing, Sungmin. You're doing the right thing, Sungmin. You're doing the right thing, Sungmin. Believe in yourself. Kyuhyun: I wonder if Sungmin hyung has brought chocolates). But it is now so quiet that Sungmin is sure neither of them is breathing. They stare at each other, mirroring the horror scribbled on their faces. At where they are right now, it is impossible for the radio to receive any signal.
”I’m sorry, we did not receive a response. To repeat this message, please honk twice. To disconnect, please flip the bird.”
Sungmin shakes his head slowly because he is a careful person by default. But Kyuhyun is an impulsive person by default and careful Sungmin always irritates him. He reaches over and presses the horn twice. Sungmin winces and braces himself for impact.
“Dear Visitor, welcome to Core. According to our readings, the oxygen content at your level is seventeen point five percent. The current temperature is twenty four degree Celsius. You are two hundred and seventy nine kilometers away from the center of the Earth. We look forward to your arrival. Have a pleasant journey. To repeat this message, please honk twice. To disconnect, please flip the bird.”
Sungmin and Kyuhyun take a minute to stress over their distressingly high anxiety levels.
“That voice sounds quite human.” Kyuhyun makes a wild attempt to be positive.
”I’m sorry, we did not receive a response. To repeat this message, please honk twice. To disconnect, please flip the bird.”
“I think she (I hope) means this,” Kyuhyun whispers before he sticks out his middle finger to no one in particular. “Why is the oxygen level so high underground? Who else needs oxygen besides us?”
”I’m sorry, we did not receive a response. To repeat this message, please honk twice. To disconnect, please flip the bird.”
Stumped, Kyuhyun gives Sungmin a beseeching look. In a flurry of panic, Sungmin rummages around and finds a parrot soft toy under Kyuhyun’s car seat. Very slowly and carefully, he turns the bird over, lays it on his lap and waits with abated breath.
”I’m sorry, we did not receive a response. To repeat this message, please honk-”
The radio announcement cuts and replaces itself with Jay Chou’s ‘Nunchucks’. They both heave great sighs of relief. Whoever needs those oxygen sure knows their music. Sungmin raps along softly and pretends he’s not worried. “It’s going to be fine,” he lies to both himself and Kyuhyun in a soothing tone, as if the radio hasn't just decided to have a nice little chat with them.
Kyuhyun nods eagerly because humans do quite like to deceive themselves.
All too soon, Jay fades away and Justin Bieber enters. “We need to conserve electricity,” Sungmin says and reaches over to switch off the radio.
“Hey! I like ‘Baby’,” Kyuhyun protests. Every single nagging episode Sungmin has subjected him to now floods back to Kyuhyun and accumulates into irritation. ‘Don’t waste electricity, switch off the lights/laptop/television/vibrator/whatever.’ Sungmin is always gentle with his reminders but it doesn’t help increase his popularity in the dorm. Yesung rather enjoys the feeling of having cotton in his ears when Sungmin is around.
“Well, that’s really sad, but everything happens for a reason,” Sungmin says sensibly.
Molly continues drilling on like the machine she is.
★
In the end, Sungmin lets Kyuhyun have his way because he is pretty bad at ending quarrels and would rather not start one. They travel without talking to each other; not on friendly enough terms to engage in conversation, not awkward enough to want to attempt at it. The silence doesn’t quite qualify as companionable though, so thank God for radio. Sungmin looks at the clock, 04:32. Then he glances at the battery life indicator and scowls. Not exactly rainbow news. He wants to switch off the radio but Kyuhyun is humming along to Jam Hsiao right now. He presses the ‘Accelerate’ button instead.
Approximately two hours ago, the almost human-like voice had said they were two hundred and seventy nine kilometers away from the center of the Earth.
Sungmin furrows his brows. Has Earth shrunk?
★
At 05:45, Molly ceases operations with a loud whine and Kyuhyun jerks awake. “Shit, I overslept? What time is the flight?” His mind wakes before the rest of his body does and for a while, he can only fret while he tries to peel open his eyes.
Sungmin is surprised. He guessed it happens to all members but Kyuhyun always seems so indifferent. Alright, he looks tired too, but who isn't?
“We’re not going to catch any flight today,” Sungmin says slowly and clearly. He is careful to divert the glaring light of the torchlight away from Kyuhyun's eyes.
“What? Why?” Kyuhyun demands in bewilderment. He sits up straighter in his seat and then the darkness sinks in. “Oh,” he blinks as panic eases away from his face. “What happened? Why are we stopping? Why did you switch off the light?”
Sungmin directs the torchlight at the battery life indicator. The needle is pointing at the word ‘Dead’.
Kyuhyun flushes as he recalls Sungmin’s warning from earlier on. “You know, it’s not like the radio made such a big difference on electricity consumption,” Kyuhyun says, a little more brashly than intended, even though Sungmin hasn’t said anything.
A small sad smile appears on Sungmin’s face. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m always being overly cautious,” he says wistfully, his voice soft and regretful. The light is casting tricky shadows on the curve of his cheeks. Kyuhyun frowns because there’s certainly nothing wistful about getting stuck hundreds of feet underground. “I don’t know why I didn’t consider Molly’s battery life this time though. The drilling used up so much electricity,” Sungmin laments.
Sungmin’s good natured concession only serves to embarrass Kyuhyun even more. There is also a tiny twinge of guilt poking his conscience. The members have, on more than one occasion, mock Sungmin for his meticulosity, labeling him as ‘girly’. For a while, Kyuhyun wonders if Sungmin knows about those times they’ve done so off camera when he’s not around.
That would be very unfortunate.
“What now?” Kyuhyun practically barks, finding it difficult to look at Sungmin now.
“Shall we dig?” Sungmin flexes his fingers, sad smiles all gone now.
“Shen me!” Kyuhyun squawks in Chinese with his perfect pronunciation.
Sungmin turns and tries to open the door at his side, pushing against the earth with all his might. Suddenly, Molly moves.
Kyuhyun’s ‘Did you feel that?’ coincides exactly with the moment the earth beneath Molly’s wheels gives way and the possibility of it happening is infinite (the largest super computer in the world will not be able to hold the amount of zeros in the calculation of its possibility), but Sungmin is very convinced that they are currently free falling.
“Is this very bad?” Kyuhyun prepares to cower.
“This is very bad.” Sungmin is affirmative.
They start screaming.
★
shen me > what
i wanted to write alot about sungmin, actually. but in the end, i guess my objective is not to try and approximate the real sungmin (i honestly can't either). i just want him to have an adventure.
pls don't read too much into kyu's characterization :3