Inevitability (Eeteuk/Kangin)
Kangin-centric, some Eeteuk/Kangin (Super Junior)
PG. Three instances in Kangin's life where he thought about women. Or something like that.
.
1. MBC's Prettier than Flower contest
Kangin has always liked pretty things. Not in a gay way, or anything like that. It’s not like he wears flowered headbands and carries little purses or even that he wishes he were a woman so he could. It’s not like that at all. He just… likes pretty things. Delicate things. He gets the urge to hold them in the palms of his rough hands, to wrap them in his strong arms.
It’s why he likes women so much; he wants to protect them - their small, delicate hands and willowy, breeze-could-knock-‘em-over bodies. He knows it, tries his hardest to please them: co-MCs, hosts, variety show guests.
He doesn’t realize the extent of his protectiveness, though, until he’s watching the Prettier than Flowers contest from backstage, having rushed there from another schedule with the full intention to make fun of Shindong and Eeteuk. His plans become complicated, though, once he gets there and sneaks a peek at the stage where Eeteuk is chatting amiably with the MC. When he watches the MC dip him awkwardly, almost dropping him, the strange, strong impulse to rush to the stage and catch Eeteuk himself is almost irresistible and certainly unexpected.
Almost as unexpected as the fact that Eeteuk makes a really, really pretty woman.
Oh, Kangin’s seen Eeteuk dressed as a woman before - Mystery 6, countless MNet countdown parodies - but never like this, seriously and properly attired in a long pink dress that reveals the smooth skin of his shoulders and makes Kangin’s mouth go dry when he turns around, the slide of his bird-wing shoulder blades at his back and the line of his collarbones just visible above his chest. He’s never seen Eeteuk like this, with a long, curly wig so similar to his current hair colour Kangin would’ve thought it were real if not for how oddly shiny it looks under the harsh lights. He’s never seen Eeteuk wearing some kind of shiny pink gloss on the already pretty lips of his tiny mouth, never seen him with such dark lashes and dark eyes made darker with the shimmer of makeup on his eyelids.
Something about his face is softened with the makeup, the laugh lines that are only just beginning to show made pretty and delicate at the sides of his eyes, and he swallows hard at an attempt to unstick his throat as Eeteuk heads towards him from the stage. He’s holding his dress carefully, making sure the back doesn’t drag on the ground, and Kangin’s eyes follow the slender line of his pale arm with a sense of foreboding and helplessness.
Shit, he thinks, this is so wrong.
Still, despite the feminine beauty of his face and the narrow set of his shoulders, Kangin can begin to pick out the distinctly masculine features that only become more obvious as he approaches him, and he’s not sure if he’s relieved or disappointed by this. Eeteuk’s waist narrows and doesn’t swell into the curve of a woman’s hips, giving him an awkward shape in the body-skimming dress clearly meant for someone with more curves that Eeteuk possesses. His arms are slim and smooth but the sinewy muscles flex into the slightest definition as he clutches the side of the dress’ skirt with a clearly male hand, and he can glimpse Eeteuk’s knobbly feet, peeking out from under the hem of his dress, indicative of his intolerance of the heels he’d kicked off once he’d left the stage.
It’s his laugh when he spots Kangin, though, that reminds Kangin that this is, actually, Eeteuk. No woman would laugh like that, he thinks fondly, and casts away any weird thoughts he might be having, grinning back at Eeteuk when he comes up to him.
2. Super Junior on Intimate Note
His legs are hairy and peek out - well, if they were to be compared to eyes, the more appropriate analogy would really be glaring - from beneath the short red cheerleader skirt. He feels uncomfortable - as any man should, Kangin thinks with a scowl, tugging down the hem of his skirt in a futile attempt to cover his thighs - even with the spandex shorts he’s wearing underneath.
“I make a better woman than you do,” laughs Eeteuk, his eyes glittering, and Kangin can’t help but agree. Anyone would make a better woman that he does.
3. We Got Married with Kangin and Yoonji
His bowtie feels a little bit like it’s choking him. He frowns a little at his reflection: the soft line of his chin, the fullness of his cheeks. He tilts his jaw forward, turning his head to the side to check out his profile as he does so, and observes the strong length of his neck and the whiteness of the skin there. There’s still the slightest downturn at the corners of his reflection’s mouth when he turns to face the mirror again.
“Kangin-sshi?”
He turns away from the mirror to face the PD who just stuck his head into the dressing room. “Yes?”
“We’re ready whenever you are, alright?” The PD raps his knuckles against the door frame before disappearing away.
Kangin turns back to the mirror, straightens the lapels of his jacket, and takes a deep breath before heading out to the set. Yoonji is still changing in her own dressing room, so he settles on the seat by the mirror to wait. He’s about ready to close his eyes and doze for a little bit when he hears the opening of a door and the swish of fabric. His eyes flutter open to a vision of a woman in a wedding dress coming towards him, and his sleepiness blurs the edges of her figure into softness. He stands and blinks her into focus, her features open and pleasant with her hair away from her face - pearls at her throat. She’s wearing little white gloves and her shoulders are bare, and her veil almost floats behind her. She’s smiling, and she looks very, very beautiful; really, like a bride. Like his bride.
He tells her so, and she laughs. A pretty sound. “Yah, isn’t that the point?” She hooks her hand over his elbow, and when he sees their reflection, he thinks they really could be a couple about to be married: her with a tiara and veil and a bouquet of silk flowers, he with a bowtie and an expensive suit.
The photoshoot goes as smoothly as possible, and it’s over before Kangin knows it. Yoonji is heading back to the dressing room, pulling off her gloves, and knowing that this could be the only time for a long time that there’ll be a woman in a wedding dress for him, Kangin can’t resist - he calls out to her, and she turns as he snaps a picture with his cellphone.
“A picture of my beautiful wife,” he says, and she smiles, embarrassed, before ducking into the dressing room and popping out a second later. “Come on, might as well take a few of our own pictures,” she says, and gestures for him to come closer to snap pictures with both of their phones. Her shoulder is bare and presses against his as they smile at the cameras.
They eventually part to head back to their respective changing rooms, and he watches the veil disappear behind the closing door in a flutter of white lace. Once in his own room, he unfastens the bowtie and hangs up the blazer, leaving the studio in jeans and a sweatshirt that was once a size too big. He sees Yoonji stepping into her company car in sweats and a cap, and they wave to each other before he goes into his own.
Eeteuk’s with Eunhyuk in the living room when he gets back, and they pounce on him, demanding to see selcas, when he kicks off his shoes and drops his bag on the couch.
“Ah, she’s beautiful, Youngwoon. Really beautiful,” Eeteuk says, upon seeing their pictures. His smile is proud. “It would be good for you to marry someone like her in the future.” He hands back the phone, and their fingers don’t touch.
Kangin looks down at the picture on the screen - Yoonji in a long white dress, half-turned to the camera with her gloves in one hand - and back up at Eeteuk, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and wonders if he ever will have the chance to marry someone like her.
PG. Three instances in Kangin's life where he thought about women. Or something like that.
.
1. MBC's Prettier than Flower contest
Kangin has always liked pretty things. Not in a gay way, or anything like that. It’s not like he wears flowered headbands and carries little purses or even that he wishes he were a woman so he could. It’s not like that at all. He just… likes pretty things. Delicate things. He gets the urge to hold them in the palms of his rough hands, to wrap them in his strong arms.
It’s why he likes women so much; he wants to protect them - their small, delicate hands and willowy, breeze-could-knock-‘em-over bodies. He knows it, tries his hardest to please them: co-MCs, hosts, variety show guests.
He doesn’t realize the extent of his protectiveness, though, until he’s watching the Prettier than Flowers contest from backstage, having rushed there from another schedule with the full intention to make fun of Shindong and Eeteuk. His plans become complicated, though, once he gets there and sneaks a peek at the stage where Eeteuk is chatting amiably with the MC. When he watches the MC dip him awkwardly, almost dropping him, the strange, strong impulse to rush to the stage and catch Eeteuk himself is almost irresistible and certainly unexpected.
Almost as unexpected as the fact that Eeteuk makes a really, really pretty woman.
Oh, Kangin’s seen Eeteuk dressed as a woman before - Mystery 6, countless MNet countdown parodies - but never like this, seriously and properly attired in a long pink dress that reveals the smooth skin of his shoulders and makes Kangin’s mouth go dry when he turns around, the slide of his bird-wing shoulder blades at his back and the line of his collarbones just visible above his chest. He’s never seen Eeteuk like this, with a long, curly wig so similar to his current hair colour Kangin would’ve thought it were real if not for how oddly shiny it looks under the harsh lights. He’s never seen Eeteuk wearing some kind of shiny pink gloss on the already pretty lips of his tiny mouth, never seen him with such dark lashes and dark eyes made darker with the shimmer of makeup on his eyelids.
Something about his face is softened with the makeup, the laugh lines that are only just beginning to show made pretty and delicate at the sides of his eyes, and he swallows hard at an attempt to unstick his throat as Eeteuk heads towards him from the stage. He’s holding his dress carefully, making sure the back doesn’t drag on the ground, and Kangin’s eyes follow the slender line of his pale arm with a sense of foreboding and helplessness.
Shit, he thinks, this is so wrong.
Still, despite the feminine beauty of his face and the narrow set of his shoulders, Kangin can begin to pick out the distinctly masculine features that only become more obvious as he approaches him, and he’s not sure if he’s relieved or disappointed by this. Eeteuk’s waist narrows and doesn’t swell into the curve of a woman’s hips, giving him an awkward shape in the body-skimming dress clearly meant for someone with more curves that Eeteuk possesses. His arms are slim and smooth but the sinewy muscles flex into the slightest definition as he clutches the side of the dress’ skirt with a clearly male hand, and he can glimpse Eeteuk’s knobbly feet, peeking out from under the hem of his dress, indicative of his intolerance of the heels he’d kicked off once he’d left the stage.
It’s his laugh when he spots Kangin, though, that reminds Kangin that this is, actually, Eeteuk. No woman would laugh like that, he thinks fondly, and casts away any weird thoughts he might be having, grinning back at Eeteuk when he comes up to him.
2. Super Junior on Intimate Note
His legs are hairy and peek out - well, if they were to be compared to eyes, the more appropriate analogy would really be glaring - from beneath the short red cheerleader skirt. He feels uncomfortable - as any man should, Kangin thinks with a scowl, tugging down the hem of his skirt in a futile attempt to cover his thighs - even with the spandex shorts he’s wearing underneath.
“I make a better woman than you do,” laughs Eeteuk, his eyes glittering, and Kangin can’t help but agree. Anyone would make a better woman that he does.
3. We Got Married with Kangin and Yoonji
His bowtie feels a little bit like it’s choking him. He frowns a little at his reflection: the soft line of his chin, the fullness of his cheeks. He tilts his jaw forward, turning his head to the side to check out his profile as he does so, and observes the strong length of his neck and the whiteness of the skin there. There’s still the slightest downturn at the corners of his reflection’s mouth when he turns to face the mirror again.
“Kangin-sshi?”
He turns away from the mirror to face the PD who just stuck his head into the dressing room. “Yes?”
“We’re ready whenever you are, alright?” The PD raps his knuckles against the door frame before disappearing away.
Kangin turns back to the mirror, straightens the lapels of his jacket, and takes a deep breath before heading out to the set. Yoonji is still changing in her own dressing room, so he settles on the seat by the mirror to wait. He’s about ready to close his eyes and doze for a little bit when he hears the opening of a door and the swish of fabric. His eyes flutter open to a vision of a woman in a wedding dress coming towards him, and his sleepiness blurs the edges of her figure into softness. He stands and blinks her into focus, her features open and pleasant with her hair away from her face - pearls at her throat. She’s wearing little white gloves and her shoulders are bare, and her veil almost floats behind her. She’s smiling, and she looks very, very beautiful; really, like a bride. Like his bride.
He tells her so, and she laughs. A pretty sound. “Yah, isn’t that the point?” She hooks her hand over his elbow, and when he sees their reflection, he thinks they really could be a couple about to be married: her with a tiara and veil and a bouquet of silk flowers, he with a bowtie and an expensive suit.
The photoshoot goes as smoothly as possible, and it’s over before Kangin knows it. Yoonji is heading back to the dressing room, pulling off her gloves, and knowing that this could be the only time for a long time that there’ll be a woman in a wedding dress for him, Kangin can’t resist - he calls out to her, and she turns as he snaps a picture with his cellphone.
“A picture of my beautiful wife,” he says, and she smiles, embarrassed, before ducking into the dressing room and popping out a second later. “Come on, might as well take a few of our own pictures,” she says, and gestures for him to come closer to snap pictures with both of their phones. Her shoulder is bare and presses against his as they smile at the cameras.
They eventually part to head back to their respective changing rooms, and he watches the veil disappear behind the closing door in a flutter of white lace. Once in his own room, he unfastens the bowtie and hangs up the blazer, leaving the studio in jeans and a sweatshirt that was once a size too big. He sees Yoonji stepping into her company car in sweats and a cap, and they wave to each other before he goes into his own.
Eeteuk’s with Eunhyuk in the living room when he gets back, and they pounce on him, demanding to see selcas, when he kicks off his shoes and drops his bag on the couch.
“Ah, she’s beautiful, Youngwoon. Really beautiful,” Eeteuk says, upon seeing their pictures. His smile is proud. “It would be good for you to marry someone like her in the future.” He hands back the phone, and their fingers don’t touch.
Kangin looks down at the picture on the screen - Yoonji in a long white dress, half-turned to the camera with her gloves in one hand - and back up at Eeteuk, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and wonders if he ever will have the chance to marry someone like her.