T is for Time
Title: T is for Time
Rating: PG
Pairing: HanChul
Warnings: Very mild swearing
Genre: Fluff, romance
Disclaimer: I do not own Super Junior.
Picking up his bag from the conveyor belt, Han Geng smiled to himself. Christmas vacation. The one thing in winter that he actually liked. It had been a year already - a year without the most precious people in his whole life. Without the most precious person. He hated the fact that he had no time to visit Korea almost never but during Christmas, but then again, that was one of the things that made it so special.
As he exited the baggage reclaim hall and entered the terminal, a smile so wide it made his cheeks hurt spread on his face. There they were - standing behind the steel railings, a few of them jumping, others shouting, everyone smiling. If he wasn't mistaken, one of them was crying into another's shirt.
Laughing, Geng sprinted the last couple of meters, then dropped his suitcase and opened his arms, ready for the attack that was sure to come. And certainly, it came, in the form of five men slamming right against his body in a big mess of wails and laughter and pathetic whining of how they had missed him.
He laughed, wrapping his arms around as many of the five bodies as he could. "I missed you too, Hyukjae-ah, Donghae-ah, Sungmin-ah, Henry-ah, and Ryeowook-ah, please stop crying, you're much prettier when you're smiling." He smiled down at the small male that was sobbing against his shoulder, and chuckled as a pitiful "I'm not pretty, girls are pretty" was mumbled against the fabric of his coat.
"You haven't spoken Korean in a while, have you, Geng-ah?" asked an amused voice, and Geng looked up to see his former leader smiling gently at him, arms open. He felt himself blushing slightly. "Eh, no, hyung... I've been very busy" he mumbled, and pushed through the quintet that still apparently had the absolute need to cling on him like a bunch of baby koalas. He hugged Jungsu tightly, glad the leader could hold his tears - he knew he wanted to cry. Teukie-hyung always cried. But he was also strong.
And then there was an amused voice, one that he had missed very much, asking: "aren't you going to greet me at all, hyung?" Geng smiled, turning to a handsome, dark-haired male. "SM still doesn't want to give you a new hairstyle, do they?" he teased, grabbing Siwon into a tight hug. It felt so good, so warming, being together with his best friend again. No, not best friend - his brother.
"The government of China still doesn't want you to grow your hair back, do they?" Siwon teased back, and Geng pouted. He really did miss his longer bangs, but for some reason his manager didn't let him grow his hair. It was kind of annoying, really.
"You better forget all about vacations in China for a while after that comment, the government will throw you in jail if they hear you insulted their national hero's hairstyle" someone commented, pushing Siwon aside and hugging Geng. "Or their sense of style in general" he finished, and grinned, and the Chinese man laughed. "You haven't changed at all, have you, Kyuhyun-ah?"
"Nope, I haven't, I'm still as gorgeous as ever" the maknae answered, and Geng simply chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Where are the others?" he asked, slightly confused, as he noticed he had already hugged everyone.
"Jongwoon-hyung is sick, and Shindong-hyung stayed home to make sure he'd be okay. Mi-hyung went shopping with Heechul-hyung and Kibum-hyung had a meeting with his manager or something like that" Henry explained, speaking so fast because of being excited that Geng barely understood what he said. The boy really did resemble a chipmunk. Especially when excited about something.
"Well, I think we should head home" Jungsu declared, clapping his hands together. "The vans are waiting outside. Kids, you come with me, Geng-ah can go to the second van with Siwon-ah, Kyuhyun-ah and Sungmin-ah." Hearing this, all of the "kids", which meant Hyukjae, Donghae, Henry and Ryeowook, pouted and loudly objected, only to be shooed towards the entrance and the vans that were waiting for them.
Geng chuckled. Just like the old times.
The ride home was surprisingly quiet. Kyuhyun played a game with his PSP with Sungmin watching and commenting from time to time, and Geng simply stared out of the window, Siwon fallen asleep with his head on his shoulder. A gentle smile played on his lips the whole journey - it felt good and bad at the same time, seeing these familiar scenes. He missed Korea, of course he did, and even more, he missed Super Junior. But he had made the right choice. He knew he had. They all knew he had.
Even his special someone knew it.
As the van stopped in front of the familiar building, Geng shook Siwon's shoulder gently. "Siwon-ah" he called, softly "we're home. Wake up." Groaning and yawning, Siwon raised his head from his hyung's shoulder, and rubbed his eyes before giving the Chinese man a sleepy smile. Geng chuckled and pat the back of his friend's head, then exited the car and headed to the door that Jungsu was already keeping open for him.
The leader smiled as he entered the building, and sighed. "It's good to have you home again, Geng-ah" the older said, patting his dongsaeng's back briefly before starting up the stairs, leaving Siwon and Geng to wait for the elevator.
As the small button's light turned off and there was a quiet "bling" sound to announce that the elevator had arrived, they entered it, and as Siwon pressed the button 12 there was a soft whisper that Geng couldn't quite catch. "Sorry, Siwon-ah, did you say something?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. The other didn't usually mumble like that. Siwon turned, and smiled widely at his hyung, making a bubbly warmth spread inside him. God, how he had missed that dimpled smile. It always erased most of his worries.
"Hyung is right" Siwon said - in fluent Mandarin, much for the Chinese man's surprise and delight. "We're all glad you're home." Geng laughed as they exited the elevator and headed inside the dorm, pulling the door closed after themselves since it had been left open for them only. Everyone else was already in. "I'm glad to be home" Geng answered, ruffling his dongsaeng's hair.
It's good to be home. We're glad you're home. I'm glad to be home. Was is true? Was this really his home? Home was a place one was supposed to tie his heart to, enjoy returning to, and love. He didn't have too much time to think about it, though, since he barely had time to kick his shoes off before three pairs of arms were yanking him to the kitchen, and three mouths shouting something about cookies and cupcakes and tea and playing cards.
Two hours later they had played God knows how many rounds of different card games, and Geng still couldn't remember even half of their names, since at least two thirds had been completely new to him. Sungmin and Ryeowook had teamed up and completely kicked everyone's ass, resulting into Kyuhyun sulking in the living room with his computer, Jungsu trying to make him come back to the kitchen, and Hyukjae and Donghae starting an argument over which one was to blame for their amazingly bad luck (or just lack of skills) and ending up rolling on the floor wrestling.
Kibum had come back half an hour after them, and joined the game and teamed up with Geng since Siwon had said he was tired and wanted to take a nap. Apparently he had had a long and hard schedule the day before, so it was no wonder he was exhausted, Donghae had explained, right before yelling in frustration as Kyuhyun kicked his butt for the third time.
After another round of Black Jack ended Ryeowook stood up, and smiled at Sungmin who was immediately trying to stop him from dropping out of the game. "Hyung, we're out of cupcakes and tea, let me make some more. I'll come back right after that."
Apparently Sungmin's tummy was bigger than his will to win, since he eagerly nodded. "Oh, okay, that's fine then. Can you use pink frosting with the cupcakes?" the singer asked excitedly, making his dongsaeng laugh and pat him on the top of his head. "Of course."
Just as Ryeowook had gotten the water for the tea boiling they heard a door opening, followed with loud rustling, clanking, and ever louder swearing. Geng's heart skipped a beat - he knew that arrogant, angry tone of voice. He'd recognize it anywhere.
"Ah for fuck's sake - fuck - we're home! Now someone come here and help me with these or you're not getting any presents you lazy fucks!"
Geng got up from the table and exited the kitchen, not noticing the happy smiles of his friends as they followed him with their eyes. "So cute" Hyukjae murmured, then grinned. "Okay, who wants to lose to the almighty Eunhyuk?"
Meanwhile, Geng had ran from the kitchen to the entry, and stopped there. He took in the sight of two males kicking their shoes to the corner of the room, shrugging coats off and throwing their hats and scarves where ever they pleased.
"Welcome home" he exclaimed, grinning cheerfully. Both of the men froze, before one of them turned and launched himself at him with the speed of a Chinese lightning.
"Gege!" Zhou Mi yelled, apparently overjoyed. "I'm so happy you're here! How are you? Was your flight terrible? Was the food good? Have you bought all the Christmas presents or do I need to take you shopping?" All of this was said in very quick Mandarin, and Geng had to clamp his hand on Mi's mouth to prevent him from talking himself dead.
"Thank you, Mi, I'm fine" he laughed "and no, I haven't bought everything, so you should take me shopping tomorrow. Now, go to the kitchen, Ryeowookie is making cupcakes and tea. I'll be there in a minute." Taking the hint, the taller of the two slipped around the corner and headed for the kitchen, while Geng was left staring into the dark eyes of a beautiful Korean man.
"I'm not going to speak Mandarin to you" Heechul stated, crossing his arms. Geng smiled, and opened his arms. "I don't mind. Come here so I can speak Korean to you."
And Heechul did.
He practically flew to the Chinese male's arms, wrapping his arms tight around his chest. This was no time for snarky comments and diva attitude, no - it was the moment for silent, shaky breaths, small caresses, impossibly tight embraces.
"Hello, beautiful" Geng whispered, stroking Heechul's short hair gently. He could feel Heechul chuckling against his chest, before he raised his head and smiled. "Did you miss me?" he asked, obviously knowing the answer already. Geng chuckled. "No, of course not."
"Good. I didn't miss you either." There was a short silence between the two, before Heechul quietly asked the question that always came when they met for the first time every year: "how much time do you have?"
But unlike usually, Geng didn't frown and sigh, hugging Heechul tighter to tell him he only had a week, two at most. No, this time his smile only grew, and he gently caressed his lover's cheek. "Almost four weeks, Chul-yah" he whispered, joy bubbling inside him as he watched Heechul's eyes grow wide in surprise.
"Four wee- Geng, that's- " Heechul couldn't seem to be able to find the words, the usually confident diva now stumbling over his own sentences. "Almost the whole January, I know" Geng chuckled, taking Heechul's face between his palms and staring lovingly into his eyes.
"We have time for once, hyung" he whispered, thumbs stroking his lover's cheeks tenderly. "We have time for everything. We can sleep late, we can have coffee in peace, we can fight over things like we used to without having to be afraid it'll take our time."
"Geng-ah- " Heechul tried, but was simply shushed with a finger against his lips, as his boyfriend continued: "we can go to the zoo again, and take long walks, and you can take me shopping, and we can watch movies with everyone - hyung, we have time for everything we want to do, for once we don't have to worry about there not being enough of it and rushing things- "
Geng was silenced with a pair of arms wrapping around his neck and a commanding "shut up and kiss me."
And he did. He kissed Heechul gently, lovingly, but most of all slowly, cherishing every move of lips against his own. Because for once they didn't need to rush being in love - they had all the time in the world.
Rating: PG
Pairing: HanChul
Warnings: Very mild swearing
Genre: Fluff, romance
Disclaimer: I do not own Super Junior.
Picking up his bag from the conveyor belt, Han Geng smiled to himself. Christmas vacation. The one thing in winter that he actually liked. It had been a year already - a year without the most precious people in his whole life. Without the most precious person. He hated the fact that he had no time to visit Korea almost never but during Christmas, but then again, that was one of the things that made it so special.
As he exited the baggage reclaim hall and entered the terminal, a smile so wide it made his cheeks hurt spread on his face. There they were - standing behind the steel railings, a few of them jumping, others shouting, everyone smiling. If he wasn't mistaken, one of them was crying into another's shirt.
Laughing, Geng sprinted the last couple of meters, then dropped his suitcase and opened his arms, ready for the attack that was sure to come. And certainly, it came, in the form of five men slamming right against his body in a big mess of wails and laughter and pathetic whining of how they had missed him.
He laughed, wrapping his arms around as many of the five bodies as he could. "I missed you too, Hyukjae-ah, Donghae-ah, Sungmin-ah, Henry-ah, and Ryeowook-ah, please stop crying, you're much prettier when you're smiling." He smiled down at the small male that was sobbing against his shoulder, and chuckled as a pitiful "I'm not pretty, girls are pretty" was mumbled against the fabric of his coat.
"You haven't spoken Korean in a while, have you, Geng-ah?" asked an amused voice, and Geng looked up to see his former leader smiling gently at him, arms open. He felt himself blushing slightly. "Eh, no, hyung... I've been very busy" he mumbled, and pushed through the quintet that still apparently had the absolute need to cling on him like a bunch of baby koalas. He hugged Jungsu tightly, glad the leader could hold his tears - he knew he wanted to cry. Teukie-hyung always cried. But he was also strong.
And then there was an amused voice, one that he had missed very much, asking: "aren't you going to greet me at all, hyung?" Geng smiled, turning to a handsome, dark-haired male. "SM still doesn't want to give you a new hairstyle, do they?" he teased, grabbing Siwon into a tight hug. It felt so good, so warming, being together with his best friend again. No, not best friend - his brother.
"The government of China still doesn't want you to grow your hair back, do they?" Siwon teased back, and Geng pouted. He really did miss his longer bangs, but for some reason his manager didn't let him grow his hair. It was kind of annoying, really.
"You better forget all about vacations in China for a while after that comment, the government will throw you in jail if they hear you insulted their national hero's hairstyle" someone commented, pushing Siwon aside and hugging Geng. "Or their sense of style in general" he finished, and grinned, and the Chinese man laughed. "You haven't changed at all, have you, Kyuhyun-ah?"
"Nope, I haven't, I'm still as gorgeous as ever" the maknae answered, and Geng simply chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Where are the others?" he asked, slightly confused, as he noticed he had already hugged everyone.
"Jongwoon-hyung is sick, and Shindong-hyung stayed home to make sure he'd be okay. Mi-hyung went shopping with Heechul-hyung and Kibum-hyung had a meeting with his manager or something like that" Henry explained, speaking so fast because of being excited that Geng barely understood what he said. The boy really did resemble a chipmunk. Especially when excited about something.
"Well, I think we should head home" Jungsu declared, clapping his hands together. "The vans are waiting outside. Kids, you come with me, Geng-ah can go to the second van with Siwon-ah, Kyuhyun-ah and Sungmin-ah." Hearing this, all of the "kids", which meant Hyukjae, Donghae, Henry and Ryeowook, pouted and loudly objected, only to be shooed towards the entrance and the vans that were waiting for them.
Geng chuckled. Just like the old times.
The ride home was surprisingly quiet. Kyuhyun played a game with his PSP with Sungmin watching and commenting from time to time, and Geng simply stared out of the window, Siwon fallen asleep with his head on his shoulder. A gentle smile played on his lips the whole journey - it felt good and bad at the same time, seeing these familiar scenes. He missed Korea, of course he did, and even more, he missed Super Junior. But he had made the right choice. He knew he had. They all knew he had.
Even his special someone knew it.
As the van stopped in front of the familiar building, Geng shook Siwon's shoulder gently. "Siwon-ah" he called, softly "we're home. Wake up." Groaning and yawning, Siwon raised his head from his hyung's shoulder, and rubbed his eyes before giving the Chinese man a sleepy smile. Geng chuckled and pat the back of his friend's head, then exited the car and headed to the door that Jungsu was already keeping open for him.
The leader smiled as he entered the building, and sighed. "It's good to have you home again, Geng-ah" the older said, patting his dongsaeng's back briefly before starting up the stairs, leaving Siwon and Geng to wait for the elevator.
As the small button's light turned off and there was a quiet "bling" sound to announce that the elevator had arrived, they entered it, and as Siwon pressed the button 12 there was a soft whisper that Geng couldn't quite catch. "Sorry, Siwon-ah, did you say something?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. The other didn't usually mumble like that. Siwon turned, and smiled widely at his hyung, making a bubbly warmth spread inside him. God, how he had missed that dimpled smile. It always erased most of his worries.
"Hyung is right" Siwon said - in fluent Mandarin, much for the Chinese man's surprise and delight. "We're all glad you're home." Geng laughed as they exited the elevator and headed inside the dorm, pulling the door closed after themselves since it had been left open for them only. Everyone else was already in. "I'm glad to be home" Geng answered, ruffling his dongsaeng's hair.
It's good to be home. We're glad you're home. I'm glad to be home. Was is true? Was this really his home? Home was a place one was supposed to tie his heart to, enjoy returning to, and love. He didn't have too much time to think about it, though, since he barely had time to kick his shoes off before three pairs of arms were yanking him to the kitchen, and three mouths shouting something about cookies and cupcakes and tea and playing cards.
Two hours later they had played God knows how many rounds of different card games, and Geng still couldn't remember even half of their names, since at least two thirds had been completely new to him. Sungmin and Ryeowook had teamed up and completely kicked everyone's ass, resulting into Kyuhyun sulking in the living room with his computer, Jungsu trying to make him come back to the kitchen, and Hyukjae and Donghae starting an argument over which one was to blame for their amazingly bad luck (or just lack of skills) and ending up rolling on the floor wrestling.
Kibum had come back half an hour after them, and joined the game and teamed up with Geng since Siwon had said he was tired and wanted to take a nap. Apparently he had had a long and hard schedule the day before, so it was no wonder he was exhausted, Donghae had explained, right before yelling in frustration as Kyuhyun kicked his butt for the third time.
After another round of Black Jack ended Ryeowook stood up, and smiled at Sungmin who was immediately trying to stop him from dropping out of the game. "Hyung, we're out of cupcakes and tea, let me make some more. I'll come back right after that."
Apparently Sungmin's tummy was bigger than his will to win, since he eagerly nodded. "Oh, okay, that's fine then. Can you use pink frosting with the cupcakes?" the singer asked excitedly, making his dongsaeng laugh and pat him on the top of his head. "Of course."
Just as Ryeowook had gotten the water for the tea boiling they heard a door opening, followed with loud rustling, clanking, and ever louder swearing. Geng's heart skipped a beat - he knew that arrogant, angry tone of voice. He'd recognize it anywhere.
"Ah for fuck's sake - fuck - we're home! Now someone come here and help me with these or you're not getting any presents you lazy fucks!"
Geng got up from the table and exited the kitchen, not noticing the happy smiles of his friends as they followed him with their eyes. "So cute" Hyukjae murmured, then grinned. "Okay, who wants to lose to the almighty Eunhyuk?"
Meanwhile, Geng had ran from the kitchen to the entry, and stopped there. He took in the sight of two males kicking their shoes to the corner of the room, shrugging coats off and throwing their hats and scarves where ever they pleased.
"Welcome home" he exclaimed, grinning cheerfully. Both of the men froze, before one of them turned and launched himself at him with the speed of a Chinese lightning.
"Gege!" Zhou Mi yelled, apparently overjoyed. "I'm so happy you're here! How are you? Was your flight terrible? Was the food good? Have you bought all the Christmas presents or do I need to take you shopping?" All of this was said in very quick Mandarin, and Geng had to clamp his hand on Mi's mouth to prevent him from talking himself dead.
"Thank you, Mi, I'm fine" he laughed "and no, I haven't bought everything, so you should take me shopping tomorrow. Now, go to the kitchen, Ryeowookie is making cupcakes and tea. I'll be there in a minute." Taking the hint, the taller of the two slipped around the corner and headed for the kitchen, while Geng was left staring into the dark eyes of a beautiful Korean man.
"I'm not going to speak Mandarin to you" Heechul stated, crossing his arms. Geng smiled, and opened his arms. "I don't mind. Come here so I can speak Korean to you."
And Heechul did.
He practically flew to the Chinese male's arms, wrapping his arms tight around his chest. This was no time for snarky comments and diva attitude, no - it was the moment for silent, shaky breaths, small caresses, impossibly tight embraces.
"Hello, beautiful" Geng whispered, stroking Heechul's short hair gently. He could feel Heechul chuckling against his chest, before he raised his head and smiled. "Did you miss me?" he asked, obviously knowing the answer already. Geng chuckled. "No, of course not."
"Good. I didn't miss you either." There was a short silence between the two, before Heechul quietly asked the question that always came when they met for the first time every year: "how much time do you have?"
But unlike usually, Geng didn't frown and sigh, hugging Heechul tighter to tell him he only had a week, two at most. No, this time his smile only grew, and he gently caressed his lover's cheek. "Almost four weeks, Chul-yah" he whispered, joy bubbling inside him as he watched Heechul's eyes grow wide in surprise.
"Four wee- Geng, that's- " Heechul couldn't seem to be able to find the words, the usually confident diva now stumbling over his own sentences. "Almost the whole January, I know" Geng chuckled, taking Heechul's face between his palms and staring lovingly into his eyes.
"We have time for once, hyung" he whispered, thumbs stroking his lover's cheeks tenderly. "We have time for everything. We can sleep late, we can have coffee in peace, we can fight over things like we used to without having to be afraid it'll take our time."
"Geng-ah- " Heechul tried, but was simply shushed with a finger against his lips, as his boyfriend continued: "we can go to the zoo again, and take long walks, and you can take me shopping, and we can watch movies with everyone - hyung, we have time for everything we want to do, for once we don't have to worry about there not being enough of it and rushing things- "
Geng was silenced with a pair of arms wrapping around his neck and a commanding "shut up and kiss me."
And he did. He kissed Heechul gently, lovingly, but most of all slowly, cherishing every move of lips against his own. Because for once they didn't need to rush being in love - they had all the time in the world.