[fic] between the clouds and me
between the clouds and me (there you were)
pg13 - henry-centric, anyband!verse [dbsk appearance]
summary: when everything goes to shit, henry hides by himself in his cold house for two weeks and two days before the food runs out. [for my ishougenbby, 사랑해.]
when everything goes to shit, henry hides by himself in his cold house (the electricity's been turned off) for two weeks and two days before the food runs out.
he knows enough to hide between buildings and blend into shadows when he goes into the city, and he clutches his violin to him as his heart stops every time something makes a noise. he gets used to sleeping in the morning and running in the night.
henry is half asleep, dozing against the side of a dead building and waiting for a chance to cross the street when something soft floats in the air. he thinks he's dreaming at first, but the noise gets sharper and clearer and when he blinks and tightens his fingers on the handle of his violin case, he knows that the woman standing in front of him, hair red bright and legs long and bare in black shorts, is not a dream.
"hey kid." she crouches down next to him and henry can't do anything but blink at her because she's absolutely gorgeous.
she doesn't wear any makeup, or if she does, it's soft and unnoticeable. her eyes are light brown, catching the last light from the setting sun, and her mouth is tiny and pink and has deep lines curving around it. henry can kind of see through her shirt, loose and flowy and grey, and it makes him blink a little more.
"they cut out your tongue, kid?" her voice is gritty and hoarse and kind of deep for a girl, but it makes henry's skin crawl in all the best ways.
"no," he manages. he bites his lip before remembering that before everything went to shit, he was the king of his school. he remembers that before, he could get any girl he wanted and even some of the boys. the thought seems to wake him up from a fog he's been swimming in.
he won't hide any longer.
"no," he says again, stronger, and he manages a small grin, rusty with disuse. the woman's eyes seem to darken and swirl and her laugh is surprisingly light and clear.
"good then. cause pretty as you are to look at, i won't stand for no fool." she looks around them, at the buildings that cut into the steadily darkening sky, at the roads that are always empty. "you alone, kid?"
henry nods. "yeah. just me and my baby." he strokes his fingers against his violin case.
the woman nods, grins again. "you wanna come with me? there's a couple of us, we're trying to get to the next city over, see if everything's fucked up over there."
henry thinks of night spent alone imagining his family's voices, and nods. "cool."
---
"henry, you up?"
slade's voice is the first thing henry hears every morning, the words never changing. sometimes it's a bit scary how attuned he is to the wake up call.
"i am now," he answers, and the door to his room opens just a little.
"you decent?" without waiting for an answer, slade pokes her head in the space made by the opening door, and her red hair spills over her shoulders and to her waist and henry's glad the covers are around his waist because he's imagining how she would look right now if she didn't have clothes on.
henry manages a smile. "if i said no?"
"i'd still come in." slade comes all the way into the room and henry can see she's been outside, dressed in black jeans and a black tanktop with black boots that come up to her knees, henry fascinated every time she slowly ties them up. "you ain't got anything i haven't seen before."
henry bites his bottom lip. "but what if i could use it better?"
slade's eyes open comically big for a second, before she's laughing, dropping to the edge of the bed and closing her fingers around the ankle that's uncovered by the bedcovers. "brat." her mouth curls up in a smile that takes henry's breath away, no matter how many times he's seen it, and her fingers brush against the skin of his calf. "you're too young to know how to use it." she shakes her hair and the light catches on the strands and sends red shooting around the room, glaring in henry's eyes. "hurry and get dressed, we need to plan for relocation."
---
no talk no play no love and henry is slipping inbetween the alleyways with his violin case strapped to his back and a gun cold in his hand. he hadn't wanted it, but slade had insisted, insisted with her big eyes and her loud voice and something tender in her fingers when she's pressed the weapon into his hands. "to keep you safe, kid," and the way she'd said it had added just another spark to the hope in henry's chest that he wasn't too young and she wasn't so out of his league.
they'd split up, him and slade and four others, making for the outskirts of the city as fast as they could. they couldn't afford to stay in the city any longer, and slade had firmly decided that hoping for any more survivors would only cost them their freedom.
henry thinks he's close to getting out, thinks the last rows of empty buildings are close.
he tries not to breathe at all as he runs faster.
---
"you're fucking lying."
henry stares at changmin and the man (boy really, only a couple years older then henry) looks down towards the ground.
the forest is cold and quiet, the trees dark dark shapes that looking almost like demons twisting into the sky.
"you're lying, they don't kill people, they don't, they just take them over, jaejoong-" he turns to the man who stands with his hand on changmin's shoulder, big dark eyes slightly red and puffy. "jaejoong, tell me he's lying, hyung, please-"
hyejin appears from between two trees whose branches are twisted together and she's holding a white cloth in her hands. it's splattered with something dark and that something dark is also smudged on one of her cheeks. "henry..."
henry stops breathing.
---
henry wears slade's black jeans. they're a little too long on him, a little too tight, but it still smells like her. he sits on a rock that overlooks a tiny waterfall and wishes, not to be able to go back and stop everything from happening, but going back and having the courage to tell slade that she was everything to him.
his violin case sits beside him and henry wants to play, but the notes don't flow through his fingers. they make it from his head to his shoulders before they just fade away.
it feels like his head is overflowing with notes, crashing around his brain and filling in all the empty spaces, so loud and clear he can even hear the music outloud.
"henry?"
jaejoong dashes out from between the trees and he's pale, paler then usual, and his hands shake. "henry, do you hear it? the music, do you hear it?"
henry lifts his head and looks to the clouds. yeah, he can hear it.
note: this fits into my epic anyband!verse fic that i keep talking about but can't finish. because it's EPIC. D: anyways, if you're interested, here's a preview of the main big fic.
pg13 - henry-centric, anyband!verse [dbsk appearance]
summary: when everything goes to shit, henry hides by himself in his cold house for two weeks and two days before the food runs out. [for my ishougenbby, 사랑해.]
when everything goes to shit, henry hides by himself in his cold house (the electricity's been turned off) for two weeks and two days before the food runs out.
he knows enough to hide between buildings and blend into shadows when he goes into the city, and he clutches his violin to him as his heart stops every time something makes a noise. he gets used to sleeping in the morning and running in the night.
henry is half asleep, dozing against the side of a dead building and waiting for a chance to cross the street when something soft floats in the air. he thinks he's dreaming at first, but the noise gets sharper and clearer and when he blinks and tightens his fingers on the handle of his violin case, he knows that the woman standing in front of him, hair red bright and legs long and bare in black shorts, is not a dream.
"hey kid." she crouches down next to him and henry can't do anything but blink at her because she's absolutely gorgeous.
she doesn't wear any makeup, or if she does, it's soft and unnoticeable. her eyes are light brown, catching the last light from the setting sun, and her mouth is tiny and pink and has deep lines curving around it. henry can kind of see through her shirt, loose and flowy and grey, and it makes him blink a little more.
"they cut out your tongue, kid?" her voice is gritty and hoarse and kind of deep for a girl, but it makes henry's skin crawl in all the best ways.
"no," he manages. he bites his lip before remembering that before everything went to shit, he was the king of his school. he remembers that before, he could get any girl he wanted and even some of the boys. the thought seems to wake him up from a fog he's been swimming in.
he won't hide any longer.
"no," he says again, stronger, and he manages a small grin, rusty with disuse. the woman's eyes seem to darken and swirl and her laugh is surprisingly light and clear.
"good then. cause pretty as you are to look at, i won't stand for no fool." she looks around them, at the buildings that cut into the steadily darkening sky, at the roads that are always empty. "you alone, kid?"
henry nods. "yeah. just me and my baby." he strokes his fingers against his violin case.
the woman nods, grins again. "you wanna come with me? there's a couple of us, we're trying to get to the next city over, see if everything's fucked up over there."
henry thinks of night spent alone imagining his family's voices, and nods. "cool."
---
"henry, you up?"
slade's voice is the first thing henry hears every morning, the words never changing. sometimes it's a bit scary how attuned he is to the wake up call.
"i am now," he answers, and the door to his room opens just a little.
"you decent?" without waiting for an answer, slade pokes her head in the space made by the opening door, and her red hair spills over her shoulders and to her waist and henry's glad the covers are around his waist because he's imagining how she would look right now if she didn't have clothes on.
henry manages a smile. "if i said no?"
"i'd still come in." slade comes all the way into the room and henry can see she's been outside, dressed in black jeans and a black tanktop with black boots that come up to her knees, henry fascinated every time she slowly ties them up. "you ain't got anything i haven't seen before."
henry bites his bottom lip. "but what if i could use it better?"
slade's eyes open comically big for a second, before she's laughing, dropping to the edge of the bed and closing her fingers around the ankle that's uncovered by the bedcovers. "brat." her mouth curls up in a smile that takes henry's breath away, no matter how many times he's seen it, and her fingers brush against the skin of his calf. "you're too young to know how to use it." she shakes her hair and the light catches on the strands and sends red shooting around the room, glaring in henry's eyes. "hurry and get dressed, we need to plan for relocation."
---
no talk no play no love and henry is slipping inbetween the alleyways with his violin case strapped to his back and a gun cold in his hand. he hadn't wanted it, but slade had insisted, insisted with her big eyes and her loud voice and something tender in her fingers when she's pressed the weapon into his hands. "to keep you safe, kid," and the way she'd said it had added just another spark to the hope in henry's chest that he wasn't too young and she wasn't so out of his league.
they'd split up, him and slade and four others, making for the outskirts of the city as fast as they could. they couldn't afford to stay in the city any longer, and slade had firmly decided that hoping for any more survivors would only cost them their freedom.
henry thinks he's close to getting out, thinks the last rows of empty buildings are close.
he tries not to breathe at all as he runs faster.
---
"you're fucking lying."
henry stares at changmin and the man (boy really, only a couple years older then henry) looks down towards the ground.
the forest is cold and quiet, the trees dark dark shapes that looking almost like demons twisting into the sky.
"you're lying, they don't kill people, they don't, they just take them over, jaejoong-" he turns to the man who stands with his hand on changmin's shoulder, big dark eyes slightly red and puffy. "jaejoong, tell me he's lying, hyung, please-"
hyejin appears from between two trees whose branches are twisted together and she's holding a white cloth in her hands. it's splattered with something dark and that something dark is also smudged on one of her cheeks. "henry..."
henry stops breathing.
---
henry wears slade's black jeans. they're a little too long on him, a little too tight, but it still smells like her. he sits on a rock that overlooks a tiny waterfall and wishes, not to be able to go back and stop everything from happening, but going back and having the courage to tell slade that she was everything to him.
his violin case sits beside him and henry wants to play, but the notes don't flow through his fingers. they make it from his head to his shoulders before they just fade away.
it feels like his head is overflowing with notes, crashing around his brain and filling in all the empty spaces, so loud and clear he can even hear the music outloud.
"henry?"
jaejoong dashes out from between the trees and he's pale, paler then usual, and his hands shake. "henry, do you hear it? the music, do you hear it?"
henry lifts his head and looks to the clouds. yeah, he can hear it.
note: this fits into my epic anyband!verse fic that i keep talking about but can't finish. because it's EPIC. D: anyways, if you're interested, here's a preview of the main big fic.