i dare say this was worth the wait - prison au chapter 6.
Whoah, like two weeks since last chapter! I cheated, and haven't finished writing chapter 8 yet but still posting this. If I fuck up continuity on this story, I apologize.
It's a huge chapter, around 1,000 words longer than the previous ones so yeah, I think you'll enjoy it. For once I actually deliver on most of the story OTPs...
first chapter // second chapter // third chapter // fourth chapter // fifth chapter
jailbird songs, chapter 6
fandom: super junior au
rating: pg-13
pairings: ShiHan, KiHae, KangTeuk, YehWook, HyukSu, KyuMin
word count: ~ 3,500 words
warnings: Crude things.
disclaimer: Did not happen, obviously. Full disclaimer in first chapter.
notes; All of this AU will eventually be under the tag for prison!au.
Kim Junsu shook his head in disbelief. “You guys are like a gay version of some daytime drama.”
“You guys? Why you including me in this?” Hyukjae asked, annoyed.
“You live with them!”
“Not by choice! And I don't fuck shrinks or suck cock in the showers,” Hyukjae defended himself.
“Except that--” Junsu began but his mouth was stopped by Hyukjae's hand over it and a warning look.
“We're not discussing that in the library.”
Junsu grinned. “Fine, but the point is, you're a part of their insane going-ons. It's okay, though.”
“Your cell block's just boring, and you're jealous that we have stuff going on,” Hyukjae said huffily.
“Yeah, sure, we're boring because some of us are actually straight. Sooo dull. Speaking of us, did you hear Yoochun might get parole soon?”
“Yeah.” Hyukjae paused. “Wonder when our time will be.”
Junsu threw an arm around his shoulders, first checking that no guard will see them. “You'll miss this place, won't you?”
“Sure. I'll miss your stupid face so much I might not leave unless you come with me,” Hyukjae said sarcastically.
“Hey,” Junsu said. “Let's break out of prison - make sure we get out of here together.”
“Life on the run, what glorious fun that'll be,” Hyukjae noted. “No.”
“Where's your sense of adventure, dickwad,” Junsu said, frowning.
“We'll get parole in like six months' time anyway, keep it together,” Hyukjae said.
“You sure?” Junsu asked.
“Pretty sure.”
“You're full of shit,” Junsu said.
Hyukjae grinned. “I've also got a tunnel in my cell. Wanna break out, Kim Junsu?”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Junsu asked.
“Fuck, you're disgusting!”
“Yeah, but you'd still love to dig my tunnel, right?”
“Thanks, there goes my appetite for the rest of our sentence.”
Junsu laughed. “Okay, no tunnel innuendo. What else is up? I hear Sungmin's dating the new transfer. He works fast.”
“I think it's more the transfer who has the hots,” Hyukjae said with a shrug. “Can we stop with the gossip? Makes me feel like a vagina.”
“I also hear Heechul's getting friendly with some guy from the cellblock next to ours, Jay something.”
“What?!” Hyukjae exclaimed. “That asshole hasn't mentioned a thing to me.”
“Well, you didn't hear it from me, then,” Junsu said.
“This is retarded, us just gossiping here like a bunch of girls,” Hyukjae said decidedly. “Let's go do something manly like kick somebody's ass or something.”
Junsu snorted.
“I swear if you make another tunnel joke, it'll be your ass I'll kick,” Hyukjae warned.
“Like you could,” Junsu retorted.
“I so could,” Hyukjae said.
“In your dreams, perhaps.”
“You're not good enough to even appear in my dreams.”
“I'm so good I know how to stay out of your dreams..”
And like this they went their own way, leaving everybody who heard them puzzled as to why they stayed friends, or had become friends in the first place.
**
“Lee Donghae,” the guard spoke, opening the cell door. “Therapy time, let's go.”
“Where?” Donghae asked, surprised as he sat up. Had they gotten him another shrink already?
“To Dr Kim's office, where else?” the guard asked, giving him an odd look.
Donghae grinned. “Of course. Let's go.”
Kibum was pouring himself a cup of coffee as Donghae entered the office. For the first time, Donghae didn't know how to act around Kibum. He stood at the door, awkwardly, hands together as if they were handcuffed.
“Well, sit down,” Dr Kim instructed him.
“Listen, about last time--” Donghae began, desperate to explain and apologize and repeat the mistake, well, no, not that, definitely not that.
“Let's not talk about last time,” Kibum said, sitting down in the chair opposite Donghae's. The chairs were closer, the coffee table still between them. Or was Donghae just imagining the closeness? “Let's just focus on this time.”
Some part of Donghae's brain wanted to add sexual innuendo to whatever Kibum meant by this time, but another part was denying him of the pleasure. “I just want to say I'm sorry, and--”
“Donghae,” Dr Kim said, and when Donghae looked up at him, he saw a warm smile. It was weird, and awesome, and doing things to his insides and he just wanted-- and then no, he didn't, and he wasn't going to. Not this time.
“Yes?”
“Last time,” Kibum began and then cleared his throat, slightly awkward, “I promised you something. And regardless what happened afterwards,” Kibum was blushing and Donghae could just-- but then, he could also practise self-control like a sane normal person, and that was what he would do, yes, “I'm going to keep that promise.”
“You're not going to leave me?” Donghae asked, and it sounded nice, like they were together, which in a way they were and maybe the chairs really were closer, and Donghae couldn't help but lean closer anyway, because he loved getting in Kibum's personal space and now, judging from the expression on his face, maybe so did Kibum.
“I never meant to leave you,” Kibum just said, looking down at the papers in his hands.
Donghae sat back as Kibum browsed the papers, relaxed in the knowledge things were fine between them. He knew he needed Dr Kim but what he hadn't realized was, maybe Dr Kim needed him as well. Really genuinely needed him, and the thought of this pleased Donghae. He had to adopt a new way of behaving around the therapist. He'd need to take it slow, for Kibum's sake, if he truly wanted to be together in the sense that he had initially thought and planned and it could only be better this way, in love and needing each other.
Kibum was wearing black today, and he looked really good in black and Donghae knew this was exactly the type of thinking he'd need to stop doing their sessions together, and he also needed to stop making the word 'session' sound dirty in his head. It would take some serious willpower to make any of these changes even remotely possibly but he was sure he could make the effort.
Tilting his head a little, staring at Dr Kim still going through the papers, wondering if Kibum would ever under any circumstances be a top, Donghae knew this wasn't what he was supposed to be doing at all, but then, just a little wouldn't hurt, right? Right. Just a little, he thought and noticed how for once, Dr Kim wasn't wearing a tie, and he'd even left a couple of buttons on his black shirt open and--
“Did you notice?” Kibum asked him suddenly.
“No, I wasn't looking, I swear,” Donghae said, sitting upright again.
“I meant the furniture, I had the couch replaced with a chair. I hope it's comfortable.”
“Oh yeah, it's great,” Donghae said, embarrassed.
“Anyway, let's get down to business,” Kibum said and Donghae's first thought wasn't fuck yes because he wasn't thinking of such matters, nope, not any more. “Parole.”
Donghae paused. “Parole?”
“You know what the word means, don't you?” Kibum asked. “You get out of prison, live and work and if you don't step out of line, within a couple of months you're a fully free man.”
“I know what it means, but .. for me?”
“You're eligible for parole, yes. The board has set up a questioning session where they decide whether or not you'll be given parole. It's in two weeks,” Kibum said and handed Donghae a piece of paper. “Until then, it's up to me to make sure you're stable enough to enter the outside world.”
Donghae looked at the paper and then at Kibum who was smiling. “I'm going to get out of here?”
“If all things go well, yes,” Kibum answered.
“Wow,” Donghae said. An unexpected joy was making his heart beat just a bit faster.
“Now, it does mean we're going to meet regularly,” Kibum said, “and we have to really discuss some of your, um, issues and we really can't waste time on...” Kibum trailed off and Donghae's brain added, mindless sex until our bodies are too tired to move but then, he wasn't really thinking of that, but maybe Dr Kim was. One could always hope.
Just keep it to yourself, he thought and smiled at Dr Kim, to make sure Dr Kim knew that Donghae would be a good boy from now on, no more dirty business unless Dr Kim asked in which case--
“I'm going to ask you about this topic, even if it makes you uncomfortable, but we can stop if you feel stressed about it,” Kibum began. “Aliens. Can we talk about them?”
“If you like, sure, absolutely,” Donghae said, okay, maybe a bit too eager to please.
“Do they still appear to you?” Dr Kim asked and Donghae decided to make the effort.
“Come to think of it, they don't, not any more.” He paused, hoping what he was about to say wasn't too much, wouldn't make Dr Kim so uncomfortable. “Not since you arrived.”
“That's, uhh, good,” Kibum said. “When you did see them, how did you feel?”
And for the first time ever, Donghae told somebody about the aliens, even though he knew somewhere inside him that it wasn't about the aliens, it was about fear and by the end of the session, he thought Dr Kim had figured it out as well. Probably better than anybody else before him, ever.
When the clock rang - for the first time, their session didn't end early - Kibum was smiling and seeing him happy made Donghae happy as well. Maybe this was the way they were supposed to be, and by edging closer slowly, Donghae would help Dr Kim get over this little “I'm not really gay for you” issue he seemed to be having. Not that he didn't want to push Dr Kim against a wall for a bit of groping but for now, he wouldn't, not until - because the day would eventually arrive, he was sure - Kibum would do it to Donghae himself.
And meanwhile Dr Kim would make him sane. Which would be dull, granted, but not as dull as not having Kim Kibum in his life.
**
“Where's Shindong?” Ryeowook asked when he and Yesung arrived at the cafeteria table.
“He had dance lessons but he should be back by now,” Eeteuk said, looking at the big clock on the wall.
“Maybe he finally got lucky,” Kangin said with a shrug.
“You're so insensitive, you know that?” Eeteuk snapped at him.
Kangin looked surprised. “It was just a joke!”
“It's nothing to joke about,” Eeteuk said. “What if he really is in love with a staff member? That's tragic.”
“Donghae seems to be doing fine with it,” Kangin noted.
“But he's nuts,” Eeteuk pointed out. “Shindong isn't. Shindong's smart and would never get involved with a member of the staff.”
“I think it could be romantic,” Ryeowook said. “He would stay in prison, she'd wait for him, her one true love, for years, then finally they'd reunite.”
Yesung gave a sigh and slipped his arm around Ryeowook's waist. “Waffles, you're the last romantic left on this planet and I love you for it.”
Kangin and Eeteuk decidedly ignored them.
“You sure Shindong is the only reason you're upset?” Kangin asked Eeteuk.
“Yes,” Eeteuk answered.
“And it's not the..?”
“No!” Eeteuk looked flustered. “It's not that at all.”
“What's up?” Sungmin asked, arriving to the table with Kyuhyun on his side.
“Teukie-sshi has a problem,” Kangin announced.
“It's not a problem,” Eeteuk said through his teeth.
“We're going to see the shrink about this. I personally think it's normal but Teukie's being all weird about it.” Kangin shrugged.
“What is it, then?” Sungmin asked.
“He wants a baby.”
Kyuhyun's jaw dropped. “But you're - I mean, it's not--”
“Possible? Well, I doubt he wants to rewrite biology here,” Kangin said. “But yeah. He's dying to have a baby.”
“Will you shut up about it already?” Eeteuk snapped again. “It's personal.”
Everybody around the table went quiet. Then Kangin started laughing and Eeteuk joined him.
“I hate these fucking pranks,” Yesung said, annoyed. “Real fucking mature, you guys. That one was just weird.”
“We were thinking of fooling the new shrink with this, give him some gray hairs,” Kangin said, grinning.
“Why would you do that?” Kyuhyun asked.
“I don't know,” Kangin said. “We're bored.”
“Normal people just read books when bored,” Yesung said.
“Thank fuck we're not normal, in that case,” Kangin said. “What do you think, Teukie, should we mess with Dr Kim a little?”
“Sure,” Eeteuk said. “Just don't take it too far.”
“What's too far?”
“Molesting me in front of the therapist.”
“Good times, good times,” Kangin said wistfully.
“Where's Shindong?” Sungmin asked.
Nobody could answer him.
*
He wasn't the cleverest convict on the planet but Shin Donghee was sure of one thing - he was being seduced.
“What if somebody comes in?”
“I don't really care, Donghee,” Boa said with a laugh, innocent and wicked at the same time, and Shindong swallowed nervously.
“I'm pretty sure this isn't...” but every last protest in his mind when she pushed him onto the chair and began moving.
She didn't need to seduce to him, of course. She was amazing and gorgeous enough as she was, and it was because of that that he'd tried to keep his head cool, tried to avoid any unnecessary touching, any unnecessary looks. He'd walked on eggshells not to fall in love with her any more than he already had and here she was, ignorant of his efforts or perhaps just not caring.
When the song finally stopped, he got up hastily and clapped his hands, and she stumbled (by accident?) and suddenly he was holding her.
“That was great,” Shindong said. “I don't think you need me as a teacher anymore, agasshi.”
“I think you're wrong about that, Donghee,” she replied.
He released his hold of her and stepped back, awkwardly staring at the floor.
“I don't think we should, not any more. It's getting, it's getting..” He took a deep breath. “It's getting difficult being around you, agasshi. And not, not caring. I don't think I can do it any more.”
“Then don't.” Her hand landed on his shoulder, moving to the back of his neck. “Let's make it undifficult.”
“What if somebody finds out?”
“They won't.”
“But - but...” But all his protests were evaporating before he voice them, Boa so close now, her body inches away from his and her breath on his cheek and then he finally looked her in the eye. She was so there and she wanted him and as ridiculous as that was, it was true and she looked at him and he began leaning and --
“I hope I'm not interrupting anything,” the warden spoke.
“Nothing at all,” Boa said brightly. “Donghee was teaching me about eye contact in tango.”
She glanced at him and smiled a small smile, wicked and innocent at the same time, and moved his arm onto her hip.
“You're so good you can dance without the music?” Warden Choi asked sarcastically.
“Yes,” Boa said, not looking at him, eyes focused on Shindong as he began to lead them to the sound of music that wasn't there. “We're that good.”
Her body moved perfectly to the steps and as they danced, Shindong forgot about the presence of the warden and thought, maybe they really were that good. Them only.
**
It hadn't been this bad since... Kyuhyun's brain searched for the name but couldn't remember at all. Well, that girl in high school. Very pretty, nice smile. Quiet, kept to herself. Like Kyuhyun himself, sometimes.
He had managed to talk to her, and kissed her at the school parking lot but next week she'd told him she was dating somebody else. It had broken his heart, but maybe not as bad as he had thought it would, but it made him hesitant now.
Sungmin. Kyuhyun had a feeling Sungmin knew and this was awkward, and it was even more awkward because they were always together, as if Sungmin had attached Kyuhyun to his side and Kyuhyun was afraid to let go. But that's not why he began liking Sungmin and that wasn't why he seemed to cling onto Sungmin now. If he stepped back now, then Sungmin would definitely know and that would certainly be even more awkward, plus Sungmin might tell other people and that would just be the worst.
If only prison hadn't made him gay.
Kyuhyun was forced to consult the only prison couple he knew that he hadn't seen naked, and so he made his way over to Yesung and Ryeowook, who were lounging on the couch next to the ping pong table. They were cuddling, tangled in each other like some twisted gurus of togetherness. Yesung was whispering something in Ryeowook's ear, and the other giggled, and Kyuhyun hated the situation and hated it even more, knowing what he was about to ask.
“Hi guys,” he said.
The couple looked up, confusion apparent on their faces. It was clear nobody really approached them if it could be under any circumstances avoided.
“Hi,” Yesung answered, looking suspicious. “What's going on?”
“Where's Sungmin?” Ryeowook asked.
Kyuhyun felt a small sting in his chest. Had they really gone over that point with Sungmin, where people saw one and assumed the other would soon appear. He frowned but then, sitting down next to - but not too close to - the couple on the couch, decided to just get this over and done with.
“He's elsewhere. I just, uhh, wanted to ask you something. If it's too personal, you don't have to answer.” He looked at the other two, who looked curious. “I was just wondering, how you, um, how you two ended up together?”
Ryeowook and Yesung smiled sweetly and looked at each other.
“Do you want to tell or should I?” Ryeowook asked Yesung.
“I'll tell, I'll tell,” Yesung said softly and pulling Ryeowook closer on his lap, he turned to face Kyuhyun. “On the outside, I was sort of a rockstar. Sort of, anyway. I sang playback to another rockstar, whose own voice wasn't really all that. I got to sing and got my piece of the success he made, it was good.”
“It's like that movie, 200 lbs of Love,” Kyuhyun said.
“Are you calling Yesung fat?” Ryeowook asked, frowning.
“What, no! I meant, the playback singing.”
“Yeah, so. It was fine until the rockstar - whose name I cannot mention for legal reasons - got all pissy and demanded my pay be cut down and all that other ridiculous stuff. I got angry myself and decided to teach them a lesson, and sort of recorded an album on my own and released it online. What do they do? Sue me for copyrights - of my own voice, can you imagine?” Yesung sighed. “But then things take a turn for the worse as the cops rifle through my own hard drive and find some actually illegally downloaded stuff and I couldn't pay the fine, so here I am.”
“His mother is still going to court about the whole playback singing affair,” Ryeowook commented.
“That sucks,” Kyuhyun said. “And you? How did you end up in prison?”
“I was a fan of said rockstar - whose name I cannot mention for legal reasons - and then an anti-fan,” Ryeowook said.
“He did some nutty stuff,” Yesung commented.
“It wasn't that bad,” Ryeowook said with a shrug. “I just admired his voice and when I found out the truth..”
“You broke into his house and spray-painted 'FAKER' on every surface imaginable!” Yesung said with a laugh. “I'd call that nuts.”
“He had it coming,” Ryeowook said.
“And then you met in prison,” Kyuhyun said, trying to get the conversation back on track.
“Yeah, then we did.” They smiled and looked at Kyuhyun, as if their story had ended.
“And how did that happen?” Kyuhyun asked, trying to probe for some magical solution to his own situation. If there was any.
“We got placed in the same cell once Ryeowook arrived. We talked about music and eventually learned about each other's backgrounds. He admired my voice, I loved the fact he got back at the bastard, one thing lead to another,” Yesung listed and leaned in to brush his lips against Ryeowook's temple.
Kyuhyun was busy trying to avoid thinking about exactly how one thing had lead to another. He was also disappointed. In a way Yesung and Ryeowook hadn't fallen in love because of prison - in a weird way they'd shared a connection even previously, though unknown to each other. Kyuhyun didn't know how he would have felt about Sungmin on the outside - he doesn't know if they would've been friends at all if fate (or coincidence) hadn't thrown them together like this.
Then he noticed Yesung staring at him.
“Listen,” Yesung said, “if you really care then you shouldn't care about what other people might think. They may think we're weird or gross or just a little too together. We don't care. We just are as we are, and are happy doing that.”
“It's not about that,” Kyuhyun replied. “I'm just so afraid of rejection.”
“Who isn't,” Ryeowook said sympathetically.
An awkward silence fell between them.
“Thanks, guys,” Kyuhyun said and got up to leave.
Some problems can't really be solved by other people.
**
A/N: Hokay. First of all - SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. The fact is, I could go about this story two ways; write when I can and finish it ASAP or write when I feel inspired and productive and am full of ideas for it, and finish it eventually, but slower, and try to make it as good as possible. I do the latter because I don't want to make this a hastily written crapfic. Now, at first I was going to finish it before posting at all but eventually this_is_cd talked me out of it & so I began posting. I'm glad she did, I like sharing this story with you guys! However, this does mean there may be some continuity errors - I'm not that skilled a writer. So bear with me, k?
Second - usually story extras are just that: extras. But this time, I feel like they really add to the story so would probably benefit you if you also checked out THE EXTRAS. There's some Boa POV and Kibum POV; both try to show how the respective ships got from point A to point B, point B basically being whatever happens in this chapter. Then there's explanation and a little background on JayChul that sort of comes up out of nowhere in this chapter. So yeah, check those out. :)
About this chapter, oh Kyuhyun and his gayngsting. My outline for this chapter initially included KyuMin making out but that refused to happen. Sadness. But instead you get graituitous YehWook and Yesung's cracky crime, and Ryeo's even crackier one. I don't know, it seemed appropriate.
Thanks for enjoying Father Eric, by the way. I may have to work him in more, or just write more extras of him.
Now I'm gonna stop fucking rambling and go post the extras.
It's a huge chapter, around 1,000 words longer than the previous ones so yeah, I think you'll enjoy it. For once I actually deliver on most of the story OTPs...
first chapter // second chapter // third chapter // fourth chapter // fifth chapter
jailbird songs, chapter 6
fandom: super junior au
rating: pg-13
pairings: ShiHan, KiHae, KangTeuk, YehWook, HyukSu, KyuMin
word count: ~ 3,500 words
warnings: Crude things.
disclaimer: Did not happen, obviously. Full disclaimer in first chapter.
notes; All of this AU will eventually be under the tag for prison!au.
Kim Junsu shook his head in disbelief. “You guys are like a gay version of some daytime drama.”
“You guys? Why you including me in this?” Hyukjae asked, annoyed.
“You live with them!”
“Not by choice! And I don't fuck shrinks or suck cock in the showers,” Hyukjae defended himself.
“Except that--” Junsu began but his mouth was stopped by Hyukjae's hand over it and a warning look.
“We're not discussing that in the library.”
Junsu grinned. “Fine, but the point is, you're a part of their insane going-ons. It's okay, though.”
“Your cell block's just boring, and you're jealous that we have stuff going on,” Hyukjae said huffily.
“Yeah, sure, we're boring because some of us are actually straight. Sooo dull. Speaking of us, did you hear Yoochun might get parole soon?”
“Yeah.” Hyukjae paused. “Wonder when our time will be.”
Junsu threw an arm around his shoulders, first checking that no guard will see them. “You'll miss this place, won't you?”
“Sure. I'll miss your stupid face so much I might not leave unless you come with me,” Hyukjae said sarcastically.
“Hey,” Junsu said. “Let's break out of prison - make sure we get out of here together.”
“Life on the run, what glorious fun that'll be,” Hyukjae noted. “No.”
“Where's your sense of adventure, dickwad,” Junsu said, frowning.
“We'll get parole in like six months' time anyway, keep it together,” Hyukjae said.
“You sure?” Junsu asked.
“Pretty sure.”
“You're full of shit,” Junsu said.
Hyukjae grinned. “I've also got a tunnel in my cell. Wanna break out, Kim Junsu?”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Junsu asked.
“Fuck, you're disgusting!”
“Yeah, but you'd still love to dig my tunnel, right?”
“Thanks, there goes my appetite for the rest of our sentence.”
Junsu laughed. “Okay, no tunnel innuendo. What else is up? I hear Sungmin's dating the new transfer. He works fast.”
“I think it's more the transfer who has the hots,” Hyukjae said with a shrug. “Can we stop with the gossip? Makes me feel like a vagina.”
“I also hear Heechul's getting friendly with some guy from the cellblock next to ours, Jay something.”
“What?!” Hyukjae exclaimed. “That asshole hasn't mentioned a thing to me.”
“Well, you didn't hear it from me, then,” Junsu said.
“This is retarded, us just gossiping here like a bunch of girls,” Hyukjae said decidedly. “Let's go do something manly like kick somebody's ass or something.”
Junsu snorted.
“I swear if you make another tunnel joke, it'll be your ass I'll kick,” Hyukjae warned.
“Like you could,” Junsu retorted.
“I so could,” Hyukjae said.
“In your dreams, perhaps.”
“You're not good enough to even appear in my dreams.”
“I'm so good I know how to stay out of your dreams..”
And like this they went their own way, leaving everybody who heard them puzzled as to why they stayed friends, or had become friends in the first place.
**
“Lee Donghae,” the guard spoke, opening the cell door. “Therapy time, let's go.”
“Where?” Donghae asked, surprised as he sat up. Had they gotten him another shrink already?
“To Dr Kim's office, where else?” the guard asked, giving him an odd look.
Donghae grinned. “Of course. Let's go.”
Kibum was pouring himself a cup of coffee as Donghae entered the office. For the first time, Donghae didn't know how to act around Kibum. He stood at the door, awkwardly, hands together as if they were handcuffed.
“Well, sit down,” Dr Kim instructed him.
“Listen, about last time--” Donghae began, desperate to explain and apologize and repeat the mistake, well, no, not that, definitely not that.
“Let's not talk about last time,” Kibum said, sitting down in the chair opposite Donghae's. The chairs were closer, the coffee table still between them. Or was Donghae just imagining the closeness? “Let's just focus on this time.”
Some part of Donghae's brain wanted to add sexual innuendo to whatever Kibum meant by this time, but another part was denying him of the pleasure. “I just want to say I'm sorry, and--”
“Donghae,” Dr Kim said, and when Donghae looked up at him, he saw a warm smile. It was weird, and awesome, and doing things to his insides and he just wanted-- and then no, he didn't, and he wasn't going to. Not this time.
“Yes?”
“Last time,” Kibum began and then cleared his throat, slightly awkward, “I promised you something. And regardless what happened afterwards,” Kibum was blushing and Donghae could just-- but then, he could also practise self-control like a sane normal person, and that was what he would do, yes, “I'm going to keep that promise.”
“You're not going to leave me?” Donghae asked, and it sounded nice, like they were together, which in a way they were and maybe the chairs really were closer, and Donghae couldn't help but lean closer anyway, because he loved getting in Kibum's personal space and now, judging from the expression on his face, maybe so did Kibum.
“I never meant to leave you,” Kibum just said, looking down at the papers in his hands.
Donghae sat back as Kibum browsed the papers, relaxed in the knowledge things were fine between them. He knew he needed Dr Kim but what he hadn't realized was, maybe Dr Kim needed him as well. Really genuinely needed him, and the thought of this pleased Donghae. He had to adopt a new way of behaving around the therapist. He'd need to take it slow, for Kibum's sake, if he truly wanted to be together in the sense that he had initially thought and planned and it could only be better this way, in love and needing each other.
Kibum was wearing black today, and he looked really good in black and Donghae knew this was exactly the type of thinking he'd need to stop doing their sessions together, and he also needed to stop making the word 'session' sound dirty in his head. It would take some serious willpower to make any of these changes even remotely possibly but he was sure he could make the effort.
Tilting his head a little, staring at Dr Kim still going through the papers, wondering if Kibum would ever under any circumstances be a top, Donghae knew this wasn't what he was supposed to be doing at all, but then, just a little wouldn't hurt, right? Right. Just a little, he thought and noticed how for once, Dr Kim wasn't wearing a tie, and he'd even left a couple of buttons on his black shirt open and--
“Did you notice?” Kibum asked him suddenly.
“No, I wasn't looking, I swear,” Donghae said, sitting upright again.
“I meant the furniture, I had the couch replaced with a chair. I hope it's comfortable.”
“Oh yeah, it's great,” Donghae said, embarrassed.
“Anyway, let's get down to business,” Kibum said and Donghae's first thought wasn't fuck yes because he wasn't thinking of such matters, nope, not any more. “Parole.”
Donghae paused. “Parole?”
“You know what the word means, don't you?” Kibum asked. “You get out of prison, live and work and if you don't step out of line, within a couple of months you're a fully free man.”
“I know what it means, but .. for me?”
“You're eligible for parole, yes. The board has set up a questioning session where they decide whether or not you'll be given parole. It's in two weeks,” Kibum said and handed Donghae a piece of paper. “Until then, it's up to me to make sure you're stable enough to enter the outside world.”
Donghae looked at the paper and then at Kibum who was smiling. “I'm going to get out of here?”
“If all things go well, yes,” Kibum answered.
“Wow,” Donghae said. An unexpected joy was making his heart beat just a bit faster.
“Now, it does mean we're going to meet regularly,” Kibum said, “and we have to really discuss some of your, um, issues and we really can't waste time on...” Kibum trailed off and Donghae's brain added, mindless sex until our bodies are too tired to move but then, he wasn't really thinking of that, but maybe Dr Kim was. One could always hope.
Just keep it to yourself, he thought and smiled at Dr Kim, to make sure Dr Kim knew that Donghae would be a good boy from now on, no more dirty business unless Dr Kim asked in which case--
“I'm going to ask you about this topic, even if it makes you uncomfortable, but we can stop if you feel stressed about it,” Kibum began. “Aliens. Can we talk about them?”
“If you like, sure, absolutely,” Donghae said, okay, maybe a bit too eager to please.
“Do they still appear to you?” Dr Kim asked and Donghae decided to make the effort.
“Come to think of it, they don't, not any more.” He paused, hoping what he was about to say wasn't too much, wouldn't make Dr Kim so uncomfortable. “Not since you arrived.”
“That's, uhh, good,” Kibum said. “When you did see them, how did you feel?”
And for the first time ever, Donghae told somebody about the aliens, even though he knew somewhere inside him that it wasn't about the aliens, it was about fear and by the end of the session, he thought Dr Kim had figured it out as well. Probably better than anybody else before him, ever.
When the clock rang - for the first time, their session didn't end early - Kibum was smiling and seeing him happy made Donghae happy as well. Maybe this was the way they were supposed to be, and by edging closer slowly, Donghae would help Dr Kim get over this little “I'm not really gay for you” issue he seemed to be having. Not that he didn't want to push Dr Kim against a wall for a bit of groping but for now, he wouldn't, not until - because the day would eventually arrive, he was sure - Kibum would do it to Donghae himself.
And meanwhile Dr Kim would make him sane. Which would be dull, granted, but not as dull as not having Kim Kibum in his life.
**
“Where's Shindong?” Ryeowook asked when he and Yesung arrived at the cafeteria table.
“He had dance lessons but he should be back by now,” Eeteuk said, looking at the big clock on the wall.
“Maybe he finally got lucky,” Kangin said with a shrug.
“You're so insensitive, you know that?” Eeteuk snapped at him.
Kangin looked surprised. “It was just a joke!”
“It's nothing to joke about,” Eeteuk said. “What if he really is in love with a staff member? That's tragic.”
“Donghae seems to be doing fine with it,” Kangin noted.
“But he's nuts,” Eeteuk pointed out. “Shindong isn't. Shindong's smart and would never get involved with a member of the staff.”
“I think it could be romantic,” Ryeowook said. “He would stay in prison, she'd wait for him, her one true love, for years, then finally they'd reunite.”
Yesung gave a sigh and slipped his arm around Ryeowook's waist. “Waffles, you're the last romantic left on this planet and I love you for it.”
Kangin and Eeteuk decidedly ignored them.
“You sure Shindong is the only reason you're upset?” Kangin asked Eeteuk.
“Yes,” Eeteuk answered.
“And it's not the..?”
“No!” Eeteuk looked flustered. “It's not that at all.”
“What's up?” Sungmin asked, arriving to the table with Kyuhyun on his side.
“Teukie-sshi has a problem,” Kangin announced.
“It's not a problem,” Eeteuk said through his teeth.
“We're going to see the shrink about this. I personally think it's normal but Teukie's being all weird about it.” Kangin shrugged.
“What is it, then?” Sungmin asked.
“He wants a baby.”
Kyuhyun's jaw dropped. “But you're - I mean, it's not--”
“Possible? Well, I doubt he wants to rewrite biology here,” Kangin said. “But yeah. He's dying to have a baby.”
“Will you shut up about it already?” Eeteuk snapped again. “It's personal.”
Everybody around the table went quiet. Then Kangin started laughing and Eeteuk joined him.
“I hate these fucking pranks,” Yesung said, annoyed. “Real fucking mature, you guys. That one was just weird.”
“We were thinking of fooling the new shrink with this, give him some gray hairs,” Kangin said, grinning.
“Why would you do that?” Kyuhyun asked.
“I don't know,” Kangin said. “We're bored.”
“Normal people just read books when bored,” Yesung said.
“Thank fuck we're not normal, in that case,” Kangin said. “What do you think, Teukie, should we mess with Dr Kim a little?”
“Sure,” Eeteuk said. “Just don't take it too far.”
“What's too far?”
“Molesting me in front of the therapist.”
“Good times, good times,” Kangin said wistfully.
“Where's Shindong?” Sungmin asked.
Nobody could answer him.
*
He wasn't the cleverest convict on the planet but Shin Donghee was sure of one thing - he was being seduced.
“What if somebody comes in?”
“I don't really care, Donghee,” Boa said with a laugh, innocent and wicked at the same time, and Shindong swallowed nervously.
“I'm pretty sure this isn't...” but every last protest in his mind when she pushed him onto the chair and began moving.
She didn't need to seduce to him, of course. She was amazing and gorgeous enough as she was, and it was because of that that he'd tried to keep his head cool, tried to avoid any unnecessary touching, any unnecessary looks. He'd walked on eggshells not to fall in love with her any more than he already had and here she was, ignorant of his efforts or perhaps just not caring.
When the song finally stopped, he got up hastily and clapped his hands, and she stumbled (by accident?) and suddenly he was holding her.
“That was great,” Shindong said. “I don't think you need me as a teacher anymore, agasshi.”
“I think you're wrong about that, Donghee,” she replied.
He released his hold of her and stepped back, awkwardly staring at the floor.
“I don't think we should, not any more. It's getting, it's getting..” He took a deep breath. “It's getting difficult being around you, agasshi. And not, not caring. I don't think I can do it any more.”
“Then don't.” Her hand landed on his shoulder, moving to the back of his neck. “Let's make it undifficult.”
“What if somebody finds out?”
“They won't.”
“But - but...” But all his protests were evaporating before he voice them, Boa so close now, her body inches away from his and her breath on his cheek and then he finally looked her in the eye. She was so there and she wanted him and as ridiculous as that was, it was true and she looked at him and he began leaning and --
“I hope I'm not interrupting anything,” the warden spoke.
“Nothing at all,” Boa said brightly. “Donghee was teaching me about eye contact in tango.”
She glanced at him and smiled a small smile, wicked and innocent at the same time, and moved his arm onto her hip.
“You're so good you can dance without the music?” Warden Choi asked sarcastically.
“Yes,” Boa said, not looking at him, eyes focused on Shindong as he began to lead them to the sound of music that wasn't there. “We're that good.”
Her body moved perfectly to the steps and as they danced, Shindong forgot about the presence of the warden and thought, maybe they really were that good. Them only.
**
It hadn't been this bad since... Kyuhyun's brain searched for the name but couldn't remember at all. Well, that girl in high school. Very pretty, nice smile. Quiet, kept to herself. Like Kyuhyun himself, sometimes.
He had managed to talk to her, and kissed her at the school parking lot but next week she'd told him she was dating somebody else. It had broken his heart, but maybe not as bad as he had thought it would, but it made him hesitant now.
Sungmin. Kyuhyun had a feeling Sungmin knew and this was awkward, and it was even more awkward because they were always together, as if Sungmin had attached Kyuhyun to his side and Kyuhyun was afraid to let go. But that's not why he began liking Sungmin and that wasn't why he seemed to cling onto Sungmin now. If he stepped back now, then Sungmin would definitely know and that would certainly be even more awkward, plus Sungmin might tell other people and that would just be the worst.
If only prison hadn't made him gay.
Kyuhyun was forced to consult the only prison couple he knew that he hadn't seen naked, and so he made his way over to Yesung and Ryeowook, who were lounging on the couch next to the ping pong table. They were cuddling, tangled in each other like some twisted gurus of togetherness. Yesung was whispering something in Ryeowook's ear, and the other giggled, and Kyuhyun hated the situation and hated it even more, knowing what he was about to ask.
“Hi guys,” he said.
The couple looked up, confusion apparent on their faces. It was clear nobody really approached them if it could be under any circumstances avoided.
“Hi,” Yesung answered, looking suspicious. “What's going on?”
“Where's Sungmin?” Ryeowook asked.
Kyuhyun felt a small sting in his chest. Had they really gone over that point with Sungmin, where people saw one and assumed the other would soon appear. He frowned but then, sitting down next to - but not too close to - the couple on the couch, decided to just get this over and done with.
“He's elsewhere. I just, uhh, wanted to ask you something. If it's too personal, you don't have to answer.” He looked at the other two, who looked curious. “I was just wondering, how you, um, how you two ended up together?”
Ryeowook and Yesung smiled sweetly and looked at each other.
“Do you want to tell or should I?” Ryeowook asked Yesung.
“I'll tell, I'll tell,” Yesung said softly and pulling Ryeowook closer on his lap, he turned to face Kyuhyun. “On the outside, I was sort of a rockstar. Sort of, anyway. I sang playback to another rockstar, whose own voice wasn't really all that. I got to sing and got my piece of the success he made, it was good.”
“It's like that movie, 200 lbs of Love,” Kyuhyun said.
“Are you calling Yesung fat?” Ryeowook asked, frowning.
“What, no! I meant, the playback singing.”
“Yeah, so. It was fine until the rockstar - whose name I cannot mention for legal reasons - got all pissy and demanded my pay be cut down and all that other ridiculous stuff. I got angry myself and decided to teach them a lesson, and sort of recorded an album on my own and released it online. What do they do? Sue me for copyrights - of my own voice, can you imagine?” Yesung sighed. “But then things take a turn for the worse as the cops rifle through my own hard drive and find some actually illegally downloaded stuff and I couldn't pay the fine, so here I am.”
“His mother is still going to court about the whole playback singing affair,” Ryeowook commented.
“That sucks,” Kyuhyun said. “And you? How did you end up in prison?”
“I was a fan of said rockstar - whose name I cannot mention for legal reasons - and then an anti-fan,” Ryeowook said.
“He did some nutty stuff,” Yesung commented.
“It wasn't that bad,” Ryeowook said with a shrug. “I just admired his voice and when I found out the truth..”
“You broke into his house and spray-painted 'FAKER' on every surface imaginable!” Yesung said with a laugh. “I'd call that nuts.”
“He had it coming,” Ryeowook said.
“And then you met in prison,” Kyuhyun said, trying to get the conversation back on track.
“Yeah, then we did.” They smiled and looked at Kyuhyun, as if their story had ended.
“And how did that happen?” Kyuhyun asked, trying to probe for some magical solution to his own situation. If there was any.
“We got placed in the same cell once Ryeowook arrived. We talked about music and eventually learned about each other's backgrounds. He admired my voice, I loved the fact he got back at the bastard, one thing lead to another,” Yesung listed and leaned in to brush his lips against Ryeowook's temple.
Kyuhyun was busy trying to avoid thinking about exactly how one thing had lead to another. He was also disappointed. In a way Yesung and Ryeowook hadn't fallen in love because of prison - in a weird way they'd shared a connection even previously, though unknown to each other. Kyuhyun didn't know how he would have felt about Sungmin on the outside - he doesn't know if they would've been friends at all if fate (or coincidence) hadn't thrown them together like this.
Then he noticed Yesung staring at him.
“Listen,” Yesung said, “if you really care then you shouldn't care about what other people might think. They may think we're weird or gross or just a little too together. We don't care. We just are as we are, and are happy doing that.”
“It's not about that,” Kyuhyun replied. “I'm just so afraid of rejection.”
“Who isn't,” Ryeowook said sympathetically.
An awkward silence fell between them.
“Thanks, guys,” Kyuhyun said and got up to leave.
Some problems can't really be solved by other people.
**
A/N: Hokay. First of all - SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. The fact is, I could go about this story two ways; write when I can and finish it ASAP or write when I feel inspired and productive and am full of ideas for it, and finish it eventually, but slower, and try to make it as good as possible. I do the latter because I don't want to make this a hastily written crapfic. Now, at first I was going to finish it before posting at all but eventually this_is_cd talked me out of it & so I began posting. I'm glad she did, I like sharing this story with you guys! However, this does mean there may be some continuity errors - I'm not that skilled a writer. So bear with me, k?
Second - usually story extras are just that: extras. But this time, I feel like they really add to the story so would probably benefit you if you also checked out THE EXTRAS. There's some Boa POV and Kibum POV; both try to show how the respective ships got from point A to point B, point B basically being whatever happens in this chapter. Then there's explanation and a little background on JayChul that sort of comes up out of nowhere in this chapter. So yeah, check those out. :)
About this chapter, oh Kyuhyun and his gayngsting. My outline for this chapter initially included KyuMin making out but that refused to happen. Sadness. But instead you get graituitous YehWook and Yesung's cracky crime, and Ryeo's even crackier one. I don't know, it seemed appropriate.
Thanks for enjoying Father Eric, by the way. I may have to work him in more, or just write more extras of him.
Now I'm gonna stop fucking rambling and go post the extras.