jailbird songs, chapter 2.
Chapter 3 I'll probably post sometime early next week. I have it finished but I don't want you to get fed up with this fic so I'm going to be posting it with some days in between chapters. :)
first chapter
jailbird songs, chapter 2
fandom: super junior au
rating: pg-13 for now
pairings: ShiHan, KiHae, KangTeuk, YehWook, HyukSu (HyukMin, KyuMin, ShiChul sort of).
word count: ~2,700 for this chapter
warnings: Crude things.
disclaimer: Did not happen, obviously. Full disclaimer in first chapter.
notes; All of this AU will eventually be here. Again let me remind people that it's not going for the realism effect. This is so very far from an *actual* prison.
“Cho Kyuhyun, this is Lee Hyukjae. Sometimes people call him Eunhyuk because a famous boyband member shares his real name,” Sungmin introduced Hyukjae to Kyuhyun.
Hyukjae did not look happy but chuckled anyway. “I dance better than that fuckface.” He paused, glancing at Shindong who was playing table tennis in their freetime area with Kangin. “Shit, even Shindong dances better than that fuckface.”
“Hyuk used to be my cell mate before they placed you in my cell,” Sungmin said under his breath to Kyuhyun. “That's why he's so pissed off.”
“Are you two,” Kyuhyun began awkwardly, swallowing in the middle, “um, you know?”
He'd only heard of the concept of prison lovers of the same sex before he entered S1J3 and now saw couples nearly everywhere his head turned.
“Yeah,” Hyukjae said, grinning, as he grabbed Sungmin onto his lap. “We're gay. Everybody in prison is gay, except Heechul, who's so straight he wouldn't even suck his own cock if he could.”
Kyuhyun blushed.
Sungmin laughed and wriggled free of Hyukjae's hold. “No, Hyuk's one of the few who don't actually.”
“Don't actually what?” Hyukjae asked.
“Except with Junsu in the showers sometimes,” Sungmin added and received a blow to the back of his head from Hyukjae.
“We were wrestling and you weren't supposed to tell.”
“Whoops,” Sungmin said with a smile.
Hyukjae snorted before walking over to the tennis table. “Oh you'll pay for that one, Min.”
“He's just messing,” Sungmin assured Kyuhyun.
“Are you one of who actually..?” Kyuhyun asked and regretted his question immediately, seeing Sungmin's curious face. “I'm sorry, none of my business I know.”
“I'm not dating anybody,” Sungmin said nonchalantly and took Kyuhyun's hand. “I'll show you the gym in case you ever want to play basketball or work out.”
**
Heechul was bored. Bored, bored, bored.
Donghae, back from his shrink session, seemed to be busy staring off to space.
“Hey, astronaut,” Heechul said, snapping his fingers in front of Donghae's face. “Quit fucking dreaming and help me come up with a plan to sneak into Warden Choi's neatly ironed trousers.”
Donghae sighed. “Rella, this is your best friend being at his most genuine ever. Just give up on Warden already. He's just not into cock as far as I can tell.”
“Then why he's so friendly with that Chinese hack?” Heechul asked. “What do you want me to do, learn Chinese?”
“Could help,” Donghae said, clearly not into the discussion anymore.
“One crush on some pretty shrink and suddenly you're fraternizing with all of the prison staff. For fuck's sake, grow a set of balls, dongsaeng.”
“Whatever you say, nuna.”
“This is not the first shrink you've lusted after, you know,” Heechul pointed out.
Donghae sighed dreamily. “Yeah, but it will be the last.”
“You tried being sane that one time. Remember how much nonfun that was?”
“It could be better this time.” Donghae smiled stupidly.
Heechul snorted but eventually gave up. “Fuck. Where's our new cell mate?”
“Break dancing with Shindong at the basketball court.”
“That fat bastard could use the exercise,” Heechul said sardonically, but felt like all the mean in his voice had dried out already. Fuck. “Is Hyukjae gay?”
“Only if your name is Kim Junsu,” Donghae replied.
“How the hell do you know all this stuff?” Heechul asked irritably and when Donghae smiled maniacally at him, he shook his head. “Nevermind I asked.”
Bored, bored, bored. The time part of doing time sure could go a lot faster.
**
“The reason,” Dr Eva began while peeling an orange in the prison staff's break room, “the Warden calls them puppies is because they're just that. You know how a certain aged dog puppy, it may bark and bite a lot but it doesn't actually harm you, because it couldn't. Its behavior merely makes you go, 'Aww, aren't you the cutest'. That's kind of like S1J3. They bark, they bite, but just a little. They're harmless, and adorable.” She raised her eyes from the orange. “To go with the metaphor, that is. I don't actually find them adorable.”
Dr Kim Kibum smiled. “It's okay, I understand.”
“So where did you learn English so well?” the other female doctor, Anya, asked Kibum.
“Oh, I studied psychology first in Seoul, then finished my doctorate in Harvard.”
Eva and Anya made impressed sounds.
“What made you want to work here?” Eva asked.
“The challenges, mainly. I did my thesis on juvenile correctional facilities back in the States, and since my mother asked me to come back to Korea, I thought I'd look for work here. Since I know the work of a prison psychologist after my thesis, I applied here.”
“The practise is a lot tougher than knowing the work in theory, though,” Anya pointed out.
“Yes, true. It's been good so far, however.” Kibum smiled to reassure the ladies that despite his young age, and his lack of work experience, this wasn't going to be too difficult for him. “Just one patient that's given me trouble so far.”
“What happened?” Eva asked with a worried expression on her face. Kibum cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Well, it's just .. I'm sure you get it, too, being one of the few female workers here. Sexual, er, advances.”
Anya began laughing loudly as Eva smiled amusedly next to her. “Dr Kim, you mustn't take it seriously at all. It's their way of making you uncomfortable.”
“It's their way of communicating with us,” Anya agreed. “I will ask where they got hurt and they will point at their dick, 'Can you kiss it better?'.” She rolled her eyes. “You just learn to ignore it.”
Kibum could feel a blush creep up his collar. “Yes, that's probably just what it is.”
“It's a prison, everybody is horny,” Eva said thoughtfully. “Orange you?” she asked Kibum, offering him a slice of her orange.
“Hmm?” Kibum stared at them quizzically until he understood the joke and Anya burst into laughter again. “Very funny, ladies. I think I have a session soon, so I have to go now.”
“Take care, Dr Kim,” they wished him as he exited the break room.
Outside it, he paused in his steps, leaning against the door, closing it. See, it's nothing, he told himself, mind fleeing back to his session with Lee Donghae, eyes that mentally stripped him, an idle look on his face as he dragged his tongue over his bottom lip, watching Kibum anxious and increasingly uncomfortable in his chair.
It's nothing, he told himself and walked back to his office. He re-opened Lee Donghae's file, re-read it, and told himself this wasn't obsessive, this was research, and felt a wave of relief as he realized according to the file, Lee Donghae had a habit of making a move on everything that walked with two legs.
Kibum knew people lied, people lied a ton. But paper, files, rarely did and it's what he could usually count on.
**
“Hyukjae!” Heechul called so loudly other people in the library shushed him. “My new favourite cell mate.”
“What is it?” Hyukjae asked.
“Where's your dancing buddy, Donghee?” Heechul asked, looking around.
“Taking a nap. Can you fuck off now? I'm waiting for Junsu.” Hyuk kept his eyes on the book he was holding. Heechul raised the covers so he could see them.
“Jewels? Wait, is that what you did? Rob jewellery?” He gave Hyukjae a wide grin. “Nice, Eunhyuk, nice.”
“Oh please, everybody can rob jewellery. Me and Junsu were the best - youngest - fake jewellery makers you could find,” Hyukjae said, leaning back on his chair.
“Except I did all the work, so I got the longer sentence,” Junsu remarked, entering the library.
“You got a longer sentence because you're stupid,” Hyukjae retorted.
“Who started flirting during work hours and got us busted?”
“Who's jealous that I'm better looking?” Hyukjae said with a grin.
“Rewind,” Heechul said. “Who are you?” he then asked Junsu.
“Hyukjae's superior,” Junsu said, dodging a finger Hyukjae was aiming at his side.
“Oh, so Hyuk's your bitch? Intriguing,” Heechul said, giving Hyukjae an amused look.
“What the fuck,” Hyukjae exclaimed, turning red in the face from anger.
“Leave it, let's go,” Junsu just said, throwing Heechul a disgusted look while pulling at Hyukjae's t-shirt.
Hyukjae got up and they left, and Heechul realized he had lost the first battle in gaining a new friend. But this was prison, and he had all the time he needed.
**
“Officer Han Geng to see you, sir,” a voice over the telecom said.
“Thanks, Magolpy, send him in,” Warden Choi responded.
“Is she new?” Han Geng asked as he entered the Warden's office and took a chair.
“She is, but has been very good so far.”
“Easy on the eyes,” Han Geng commented and Siwon gave him a look. “Not that I, you know,” Han Geng corrected himself in Chinese, looking apologetic.
Siwon smiled. “I know,” he replied in Chinese.
“So what's up?”
Siwon sighed. “I don't know how to say this in Chinese, so I'll just speak Korean. We're fucked.”
Han Geng raised an eyebrow.
“Screwed.”
The Chinese man looked down, a bit embarrassed over his occasional lack of language skills.
“In very serious trouble.”
Han Geng's face lit up with realization, then darkened again. “How come?”
“They want to transfer more prisoners here.”
“But we don't have the space.”
“That's what I told them. But what we do have is far less prisoners than your average Korean joint, so that's what they're looking at.”
Han Geng shook his head. “Illogical.”
“Stupid, I know.” Siwon idly organized papers on his desk. He had hoped his job would remain this easy, like organizing papers on a desk, neat piles in perfect order, occasionally looking them over, occasionally dealing with trouble with prisoners, not this. These politics messing up his neat piles.
“Is there anything I can do?” Han Geng asked after a small moment of silence.
“No, I just--”
“Needed an ear.” Han Geng smiled and Siwon smiled back. What he really needed was - but he didn't let his brain finish the thought, as this was work and work was, well. Professional.
“It's nearly lockdown, I should go,” Han Geng said.
“Thanks for lunch,” Siwon suddenly remembered.
“No problem, I'm making fish tonight if you..” Han Geng trailed off when he saw the look on Siwon's face.
“Family, sorry.”
“It's nothing.”
Siwon wanted to get up and away from his desk but instead he just nodded. When Han Geng had left, he felt oddly small behind the large mahogany desk (expensive, lavish, professional), and he rearranged the papers and messed them up and asked Magolpy to get him coffee.
He drank the coffee and watched the rest of the world from his window. He wasn't locked here like the prisoners, just tied for his own reasons and sometimes he wanted those ties to just not exist at all. It's a strange world and there are jobs less strange than running a prison. There are jobs he's better suited for.
“What did you want to be when you were young?” Han Geng once asked him, head against his shoulder and Siwon tried to put the Chinese tones in order inside his head so he could answer, but he didn't know, just didn't know or remember.
“I don't know. What did you want to become?”
“A dancer.”
Siwon couldn't help but laugh.
“Not very smart, I know,” Han Geng said.
“Who cares if it's smart, it's what you wanted,” Siwon said and then thought about how he never wanted anything he wasn't told to want. It's what they want became it's what we want became it's what I want, and he wanted all the right, smart things.
Weirdly enough, he still did. Except for Han Geng.
**
“Why did you con those noonas for money?” Kyuhyun asked Sungmin when they were back in their cell for lockdown. Maybe it wasn't entirely appropriate to ask about as Kyuhyun had hardly settled in yet, but something about Sungmin made him feel very comfortable. Like he could discuss nearly everything.
Sungmin didn't seem offended, he merely looked thoughtful for a second. “I don't know,” he began. “I guess because I could, and it didn't even cross their minds that I could. They took one look at me and figured there was nothing more to me than being this cute, sweet younger guy that they could take as a pet, pamper as they liked. So I showed them.” He finished with a smile.
“They judged you based on looks only?” Kyuhyun asked.
“It paid better than having a summer job,” Sungmin said with a shrug. “Though I do sometimes regret it. Those noonas will be vary of everybody they meet from now on. And they will think my kind is completely evil. I've never been good, really, but I'm not evil, either. Nobody is, you know?”
Kyuhyun nodded but didn't say anything. He too had a hard time believing Sungmin could do anything illegal. And yet, this was a prison, not a hotel, and people didn't come here for no good reason.
“The first time I saw you,” Sungmin said, settling down in his bunk as Kyuhyun did the same, trying to get comfortable on the lumpy mattress, the scratchy blanket over his legs and feet, “I knew you were framed.”
“Did I look that naive?” Kyuhyun said with a laugh.
“It doesn't take a naïve person to be unfortunate, cross paths with ...well, one of us, basically, crooks.” Sungmin paused, his finger poking at Kyuhyun's mattress, the mattress so thin Kyuhyun could feel it against his ribs. “But you are the youngest here, you know.”
“Yeah,” Kyuhyun agreed.
“It's okay, I'll look after you, you have my word.”
Kyuhyun peeked over his bed at Sungmin, whose eyes were already closed. He swallowed. Did this mean..? He'd heard of prison contracts, the pacts people make here to protect each other against certain groups. Had he just become Sungmin's b--
“In case you're wondering, I'm not expecting anything in return,” Sungmin said with his eyes closed. “Especially not that.”
“No, I was just thinking,” Kyuhyun said, quickly coming up with a lie, “you're quite tiny yourself. If Kangin decides to beat me up, how can you defend me?”
Sungmin opened his eyes and saw Kyuhyun's grin. “I know martial arts, you know.” Then he grinned back. “But I quite like your sense of humor. Perhaps I will make you my bitch after all.”
Kyuhyun's smile faded but Sungmin just laughed.
“You can't take me seriously when I say stuff like that, ongsaeng,” Sungmin said eventually. “Good night now.”
Kyuhyun's heart was beating just a little too fast for him to instantly fall asleep. He stayed still, not moving around, not rolling to his side, just to let Sungmin fall asleep before he did. He wasn't sure what that meant.
**
“This is balls,” Heechul said, grabbing his pillow and hitting Donghae with it. “Why do I get the lower bunk?”
“Because Hyukjae has asthma,” Donghae replied. “He can't sleep near the floor.”
Hyukjae grinned. Heechul glared at him.
“I'll bet you 10,000 won the fucker's lying just to get the more comfortable bunk,” Heechul said to Donghae under his breath.
“I've got an asthma pipe to prove this,” Hyukjae said loudly, showing that he could hear their conversation.
“Anybody can get an asthma pipe,” Heechul retorted.
“What, my black market asthma pipe? Give me a break, Rella.” Hyukjae snorted, climbing up to his bunk, not facing Heechul's death glare.
“Switch places with me,” Heechul begged Donghae, who was already lying on the temporary extra bed the guards had brought to the cell for Hyukjae.
Donghae's eyes were closed. “If I sleep there, Eunhyuk won't get any sleep at all.”
Hyukjae looked at them both, confused. “How come?”
“You don't want to know,” Heechul just said. Angrily he sat down on his new bunk and gave his cell mates a melodramatic sigh so they knew how uncomfortable he was with the entire situation.
**
a/n: You know, I have this slight feeling that this is somehow a weaker chapter than the first chapter. I think it might be the lack of discovery - when I began writing, everything was new and fresh and I could throw in fun stuff from the get go but after the first chapter I had to start focusing on where I was taking the story and the characters and the different plot lines. With that said, there will be some added along the way.. Some will be surprising, but hopefully in a delightful fun way, and not like "WTF!!!". And yeah, it's going to be largely pairing-focused but let's face it, if you're not into that, you're probably not here anyway.
Okay, no, actually the reason I feel this is the weaker chapter is because it lacks a KiHae therapy scene. You'll get that in chapter 3, though - promise.
edit: Fuck, note to self: never proof-read/post at goddamn 2am. :(
----> third chapter
first chapter
jailbird songs, chapter 2
fandom: super junior au
rating: pg-13 for now
pairings: ShiHan, KiHae, KangTeuk, YehWook, HyukSu (HyukMin, KyuMin, ShiChul sort of).
word count: ~2,700 for this chapter
warnings: Crude things.
disclaimer: Did not happen, obviously. Full disclaimer in first chapter.
notes; All of this AU will eventually be here. Again let me remind people that it's not going for the realism effect. This is so very far from an *actual* prison.
“Cho Kyuhyun, this is Lee Hyukjae. Sometimes people call him Eunhyuk because a famous boyband member shares his real name,” Sungmin introduced Hyukjae to Kyuhyun.
Hyukjae did not look happy but chuckled anyway. “I dance better than that fuckface.” He paused, glancing at Shindong who was playing table tennis in their freetime area with Kangin. “Shit, even Shindong dances better than that fuckface.”
“Hyuk used to be my cell mate before they placed you in my cell,” Sungmin said under his breath to Kyuhyun. “That's why he's so pissed off.”
“Are you two,” Kyuhyun began awkwardly, swallowing in the middle, “um, you know?”
He'd only heard of the concept of prison lovers of the same sex before he entered S1J3 and now saw couples nearly everywhere his head turned.
“Yeah,” Hyukjae said, grinning, as he grabbed Sungmin onto his lap. “We're gay. Everybody in prison is gay, except Heechul, who's so straight he wouldn't even suck his own cock if he could.”
Kyuhyun blushed.
Sungmin laughed and wriggled free of Hyukjae's hold. “No, Hyuk's one of the few who don't actually.”
“Don't actually what?” Hyukjae asked.
“Except with Junsu in the showers sometimes,” Sungmin added and received a blow to the back of his head from Hyukjae.
“We were wrestling and you weren't supposed to tell.”
“Whoops,” Sungmin said with a smile.
Hyukjae snorted before walking over to the tennis table. “Oh you'll pay for that one, Min.”
“He's just messing,” Sungmin assured Kyuhyun.
“Are you one of who actually..?” Kyuhyun asked and regretted his question immediately, seeing Sungmin's curious face. “I'm sorry, none of my business I know.”
“I'm not dating anybody,” Sungmin said nonchalantly and took Kyuhyun's hand. “I'll show you the gym in case you ever want to play basketball or work out.”
**
Heechul was bored. Bored, bored, bored.
Donghae, back from his shrink session, seemed to be busy staring off to space.
“Hey, astronaut,” Heechul said, snapping his fingers in front of Donghae's face. “Quit fucking dreaming and help me come up with a plan to sneak into Warden Choi's neatly ironed trousers.”
Donghae sighed. “Rella, this is your best friend being at his most genuine ever. Just give up on Warden already. He's just not into cock as far as I can tell.”
“Then why he's so friendly with that Chinese hack?” Heechul asked. “What do you want me to do, learn Chinese?”
“Could help,” Donghae said, clearly not into the discussion anymore.
“One crush on some pretty shrink and suddenly you're fraternizing with all of the prison staff. For fuck's sake, grow a set of balls, dongsaeng.”
“Whatever you say, nuna.”
“This is not the first shrink you've lusted after, you know,” Heechul pointed out.
Donghae sighed dreamily. “Yeah, but it will be the last.”
“You tried being sane that one time. Remember how much nonfun that was?”
“It could be better this time.” Donghae smiled stupidly.
Heechul snorted but eventually gave up. “Fuck. Where's our new cell mate?”
“Break dancing with Shindong at the basketball court.”
“That fat bastard could use the exercise,” Heechul said sardonically, but felt like all the mean in his voice had dried out already. Fuck. “Is Hyukjae gay?”
“Only if your name is Kim Junsu,” Donghae replied.
“How the hell do you know all this stuff?” Heechul asked irritably and when Donghae smiled maniacally at him, he shook his head. “Nevermind I asked.”
Bored, bored, bored. The time part of doing time sure could go a lot faster.
**
“The reason,” Dr Eva began while peeling an orange in the prison staff's break room, “the Warden calls them puppies is because they're just that. You know how a certain aged dog puppy, it may bark and bite a lot but it doesn't actually harm you, because it couldn't. Its behavior merely makes you go, 'Aww, aren't you the cutest'. That's kind of like S1J3. They bark, they bite, but just a little. They're harmless, and adorable.” She raised her eyes from the orange. “To go with the metaphor, that is. I don't actually find them adorable.”
Dr Kim Kibum smiled. “It's okay, I understand.”
“So where did you learn English so well?” the other female doctor, Anya, asked Kibum.
“Oh, I studied psychology first in Seoul, then finished my doctorate in Harvard.”
Eva and Anya made impressed sounds.
“What made you want to work here?” Eva asked.
“The challenges, mainly. I did my thesis on juvenile correctional facilities back in the States, and since my mother asked me to come back to Korea, I thought I'd look for work here. Since I know the work of a prison psychologist after my thesis, I applied here.”
“The practise is a lot tougher than knowing the work in theory, though,” Anya pointed out.
“Yes, true. It's been good so far, however.” Kibum smiled to reassure the ladies that despite his young age, and his lack of work experience, this wasn't going to be too difficult for him. “Just one patient that's given me trouble so far.”
“What happened?” Eva asked with a worried expression on her face. Kibum cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Well, it's just .. I'm sure you get it, too, being one of the few female workers here. Sexual, er, advances.”
Anya began laughing loudly as Eva smiled amusedly next to her. “Dr Kim, you mustn't take it seriously at all. It's their way of making you uncomfortable.”
“It's their way of communicating with us,” Anya agreed. “I will ask where they got hurt and they will point at their dick, 'Can you kiss it better?'.” She rolled her eyes. “You just learn to ignore it.”
Kibum could feel a blush creep up his collar. “Yes, that's probably just what it is.”
“It's a prison, everybody is horny,” Eva said thoughtfully. “Orange you?” she asked Kibum, offering him a slice of her orange.
“Hmm?” Kibum stared at them quizzically until he understood the joke and Anya burst into laughter again. “Very funny, ladies. I think I have a session soon, so I have to go now.”
“Take care, Dr Kim,” they wished him as he exited the break room.
Outside it, he paused in his steps, leaning against the door, closing it. See, it's nothing, he told himself, mind fleeing back to his session with Lee Donghae, eyes that mentally stripped him, an idle look on his face as he dragged his tongue over his bottom lip, watching Kibum anxious and increasingly uncomfortable in his chair.
It's nothing, he told himself and walked back to his office. He re-opened Lee Donghae's file, re-read it, and told himself this wasn't obsessive, this was research, and felt a wave of relief as he realized according to the file, Lee Donghae had a habit of making a move on everything that walked with two legs.
Kibum knew people lied, people lied a ton. But paper, files, rarely did and it's what he could usually count on.
**
“Hyukjae!” Heechul called so loudly other people in the library shushed him. “My new favourite cell mate.”
“What is it?” Hyukjae asked.
“Where's your dancing buddy, Donghee?” Heechul asked, looking around.
“Taking a nap. Can you fuck off now? I'm waiting for Junsu.” Hyuk kept his eyes on the book he was holding. Heechul raised the covers so he could see them.
“Jewels? Wait, is that what you did? Rob jewellery?” He gave Hyukjae a wide grin. “Nice, Eunhyuk, nice.”
“Oh please, everybody can rob jewellery. Me and Junsu were the best - youngest - fake jewellery makers you could find,” Hyukjae said, leaning back on his chair.
“Except I did all the work, so I got the longer sentence,” Junsu remarked, entering the library.
“You got a longer sentence because you're stupid,” Hyukjae retorted.
“Who started flirting during work hours and got us busted?”
“Who's jealous that I'm better looking?” Hyukjae said with a grin.
“Rewind,” Heechul said. “Who are you?” he then asked Junsu.
“Hyukjae's superior,” Junsu said, dodging a finger Hyukjae was aiming at his side.
“Oh, so Hyuk's your bitch? Intriguing,” Heechul said, giving Hyukjae an amused look.
“What the fuck,” Hyukjae exclaimed, turning red in the face from anger.
“Leave it, let's go,” Junsu just said, throwing Heechul a disgusted look while pulling at Hyukjae's t-shirt.
Hyukjae got up and they left, and Heechul realized he had lost the first battle in gaining a new friend. But this was prison, and he had all the time he needed.
**
“Officer Han Geng to see you, sir,” a voice over the telecom said.
“Thanks, Magolpy, send him in,” Warden Choi responded.
“Is she new?” Han Geng asked as he entered the Warden's office and took a chair.
“She is, but has been very good so far.”
“Easy on the eyes,” Han Geng commented and Siwon gave him a look. “Not that I, you know,” Han Geng corrected himself in Chinese, looking apologetic.
Siwon smiled. “I know,” he replied in Chinese.
“So what's up?”
Siwon sighed. “I don't know how to say this in Chinese, so I'll just speak Korean. We're fucked.”
Han Geng raised an eyebrow.
“Screwed.”
The Chinese man looked down, a bit embarrassed over his occasional lack of language skills.
“In very serious trouble.”
Han Geng's face lit up with realization, then darkened again. “How come?”
“They want to transfer more prisoners here.”
“But we don't have the space.”
“That's what I told them. But what we do have is far less prisoners than your average Korean joint, so that's what they're looking at.”
Han Geng shook his head. “Illogical.”
“Stupid, I know.” Siwon idly organized papers on his desk. He had hoped his job would remain this easy, like organizing papers on a desk, neat piles in perfect order, occasionally looking them over, occasionally dealing with trouble with prisoners, not this. These politics messing up his neat piles.
“Is there anything I can do?” Han Geng asked after a small moment of silence.
“No, I just--”
“Needed an ear.” Han Geng smiled and Siwon smiled back. What he really needed was - but he didn't let his brain finish the thought, as this was work and work was, well. Professional.
“It's nearly lockdown, I should go,” Han Geng said.
“Thanks for lunch,” Siwon suddenly remembered.
“No problem, I'm making fish tonight if you..” Han Geng trailed off when he saw the look on Siwon's face.
“Family, sorry.”
“It's nothing.”
Siwon wanted to get up and away from his desk but instead he just nodded. When Han Geng had left, he felt oddly small behind the large mahogany desk (expensive, lavish, professional), and he rearranged the papers and messed them up and asked Magolpy to get him coffee.
He drank the coffee and watched the rest of the world from his window. He wasn't locked here like the prisoners, just tied for his own reasons and sometimes he wanted those ties to just not exist at all. It's a strange world and there are jobs less strange than running a prison. There are jobs he's better suited for.
“What did you want to be when you were young?” Han Geng once asked him, head against his shoulder and Siwon tried to put the Chinese tones in order inside his head so he could answer, but he didn't know, just didn't know or remember.
“I don't know. What did you want to become?”
“A dancer.”
Siwon couldn't help but laugh.
“Not very smart, I know,” Han Geng said.
“Who cares if it's smart, it's what you wanted,” Siwon said and then thought about how he never wanted anything he wasn't told to want. It's what they want became it's what we want became it's what I want, and he wanted all the right, smart things.
Weirdly enough, he still did. Except for Han Geng.
**
“Why did you con those noonas for money?” Kyuhyun asked Sungmin when they were back in their cell for lockdown. Maybe it wasn't entirely appropriate to ask about as Kyuhyun had hardly settled in yet, but something about Sungmin made him feel very comfortable. Like he could discuss nearly everything.
Sungmin didn't seem offended, he merely looked thoughtful for a second. “I don't know,” he began. “I guess because I could, and it didn't even cross their minds that I could. They took one look at me and figured there was nothing more to me than being this cute, sweet younger guy that they could take as a pet, pamper as they liked. So I showed them.” He finished with a smile.
“They judged you based on looks only?” Kyuhyun asked.
“It paid better than having a summer job,” Sungmin said with a shrug. “Though I do sometimes regret it. Those noonas will be vary of everybody they meet from now on. And they will think my kind is completely evil. I've never been good, really, but I'm not evil, either. Nobody is, you know?”
Kyuhyun nodded but didn't say anything. He too had a hard time believing Sungmin could do anything illegal. And yet, this was a prison, not a hotel, and people didn't come here for no good reason.
“The first time I saw you,” Sungmin said, settling down in his bunk as Kyuhyun did the same, trying to get comfortable on the lumpy mattress, the scratchy blanket over his legs and feet, “I knew you were framed.”
“Did I look that naive?” Kyuhyun said with a laugh.
“It doesn't take a naïve person to be unfortunate, cross paths with ...well, one of us, basically, crooks.” Sungmin paused, his finger poking at Kyuhyun's mattress, the mattress so thin Kyuhyun could feel it against his ribs. “But you are the youngest here, you know.”
“Yeah,” Kyuhyun agreed.
“It's okay, I'll look after you, you have my word.”
Kyuhyun peeked over his bed at Sungmin, whose eyes were already closed. He swallowed. Did this mean..? He'd heard of prison contracts, the pacts people make here to protect each other against certain groups. Had he just become Sungmin's b--
“In case you're wondering, I'm not expecting anything in return,” Sungmin said with his eyes closed. “Especially not that.”
“No, I was just thinking,” Kyuhyun said, quickly coming up with a lie, “you're quite tiny yourself. If Kangin decides to beat me up, how can you defend me?”
Sungmin opened his eyes and saw Kyuhyun's grin. “I know martial arts, you know.” Then he grinned back. “But I quite like your sense of humor. Perhaps I will make you my bitch after all.”
Kyuhyun's smile faded but Sungmin just laughed.
“You can't take me seriously when I say stuff like that, ongsaeng,” Sungmin said eventually. “Good night now.”
Kyuhyun's heart was beating just a little too fast for him to instantly fall asleep. He stayed still, not moving around, not rolling to his side, just to let Sungmin fall asleep before he did. He wasn't sure what that meant.
**
“This is balls,” Heechul said, grabbing his pillow and hitting Donghae with it. “Why do I get the lower bunk?”
“Because Hyukjae has asthma,” Donghae replied. “He can't sleep near the floor.”
Hyukjae grinned. Heechul glared at him.
“I'll bet you 10,000 won the fucker's lying just to get the more comfortable bunk,” Heechul said to Donghae under his breath.
“I've got an asthma pipe to prove this,” Hyukjae said loudly, showing that he could hear their conversation.
“Anybody can get an asthma pipe,” Heechul retorted.
“What, my black market asthma pipe? Give me a break, Rella.” Hyukjae snorted, climbing up to his bunk, not facing Heechul's death glare.
“Switch places with me,” Heechul begged Donghae, who was already lying on the temporary extra bed the guards had brought to the cell for Hyukjae.
Donghae's eyes were closed. “If I sleep there, Eunhyuk won't get any sleep at all.”
Hyukjae looked at them both, confused. “How come?”
“You don't want to know,” Heechul just said. Angrily he sat down on his new bunk and gave his cell mates a melodramatic sigh so they knew how uncomfortable he was with the entire situation.
**
a/n: You know, I have this slight feeling that this is somehow a weaker chapter than the first chapter. I think it might be the lack of discovery - when I began writing, everything was new and fresh and I could throw in fun stuff from the get go but after the first chapter I had to start focusing on where I was taking the story and the characters and the different plot lines. With that said, there will be some added along the way.. Some will be surprising, but hopefully in a delightful fun way, and not like "WTF!!!". And yeah, it's going to be largely pairing-focused but let's face it, if you're not into that, you're probably not here anyway.
Okay, no, actually the reason I feel this is the weaker chapter is because it lacks a KiHae therapy scene. You'll get that in chapter 3, though - promise.
edit: Fuck, note to self: never proof-read/post at goddamn 2am. :(
----> third chapter