solo le pido a dios

[xm-cherry]

▷french virgin party

[xm-cherry]

Silence follows Yida’s words for an uncomfortable amount of time as Heechul looks up at the older man, eyes wide and mouth half-way open in some sort of shock at the response. Heechul’s mind kicks into survival mode, speeding through self-taught strategies of defense he’d had to learn over the years of travelling around in his search for that person. He certainly had the advantage - strength, height, and maybe even quicker reflexes, that in addition to his power, Heechul was the perfect little combatant.

A movement startled him out of the small trance he’d been in, and only then did he notice that his arm had started its ascent towards Yida’s shoulder. Recovering quickly, Heechul let out a small bark of a laugh and rolled his eyes, reaching all the way up and placing what he thought was a calming hand over the other person’s shoulder.

“Nah, nah.. It was just a joke.. Jeez, you’re uptight,” Heechul starts climbing the stairs slowly, squeezing past Yida as he holds a hand over his chest, praying that Yida can’t hear the loud drumming of his heart. Simply, he was scared to death of this man, but at the same time feared the repercussions if he harmed him.

“You don’t need to change, so don’t tell me to change,” Heechul says airily, trying to calm the jitters of left over adrenaline going through his body.

[chanhore-blog]

Yida tenses at the hand on his shoulder. He lets himself be pushed back and watches carefully as Heechul moves around him. He breathes out evenly, but his jaw is still stiff with carefully hidden anger.

"Asshole," he mutters in chinese.

The walk up is annoying with Heechul stopping at every floor to silently ask if this was the one. At the 3rd floor, he squeezes his way past the red head and moves up to the 4th, guiding him down the hallway that was just as cramped as the stairs. 

He checks the time on his phone and knocks on a door and he passes by.

"Nine thirty," he calls out.

He ignores Heechul until they get to a door at the end of hallway. He puts in his key and just before he opens the door he stops and points at the numbered plaque just above the peekhole.

"Four thirteen," he says. A slow grin paints itself on his face and he enters the room without waiting for Heechul to protest. Yida wasn't a superstitious man. Numbers meant nothing when everyday of your life was littered with encounters that would make anyone else insane. The apartment had been unoccupied at the time, a miracle to him when he was denied every other apartment in favor of couples with children. The landlord hadn't been able to rent the apartment in years, and the residents had generally avoided the door until he moved in.

Yida moved to the other side of the apartment, tugging at the buttons on his shirt as he moved into his room to change. He didn't have any food in the small kitchen, but he would wait for Heechul to find out for himself.

[xm-cherry]

▷french virgin party

[xm-cherry]

“Besides, if one of us had to change something, it wouldn’t be me,” He mutters as an afterthought, his fingers catching on a small knot in his hair and he entertains himself for a moment in disentangling it.

He waits a beat, a silence stretched too long, he thinks, before looking back up to see if Yida had heard.

[chanhore-blog]

Yida feels a little irked that Heechul had laughed. He didn't find anything particularly funny in the question. 

"It stands out," Yida says. He won't pretend his neighborhood is safe, and standing out was the last thing anyone wanted to do here.

He takes a deep breath the suggestion. He doesn't know what Heechul is implying but the words churn in his stomach. He doesn't reply.

He turns another corner and looks up to a small apartment building. Laundry hangs out of some windows and a few air conditioning units drip down to the pavement. The front door is open despite the sign warning against it and Yida sighs as he leads Heechul upstairs.

Halfway up, he stops abruptly in the narrow passage and turns around to peer down at the korean man who was now his roommate.

"I don't see why I would need to change." He says, voice icy.

[xm-cherry]

▷french virgin party

[xm-cherry]

He doesn’t know what to say, what to ask, and even more, he doesn’t want to lose the proposed room. So, instead, Heechul bites his tongue and concentrates on following Yida around the maze of the neighbourhood, trying to memorize the twists and turns it took to get to his apartment.

[chanhore-blog]

He pockets the money quickly, looking around for any suspicious activity even though he's pretty aware of how suspicious he looks himself. Yida tries to think about whether he has any food in the apartment, but it's unlikely. He doesn't remember if he ate this morning, but he knows that he ordered take-out the night before.

"We'll see," he says instead, but he doesn't know why he's trying to soften the blow for the older man.

He keeps his vision on the ground as he walks through the streets, eventually coming up on a more silent road, with only a few souls meandering about. His entire demeanor looks lost, as if he wasn't really leading them anywhere in particular, and he crosses the road at random intervals, only to cross again to the same side they'd been walking on.

Yida only looks up when he hears Heechul's sorry attempt at making conversation. He's not surprised, but he hadn't realized that they'd been walking all this way without a word.

"It's not very nice," he says, referring to the apartment, but as he looks back to the buildings around them, he can't imagine that Heechul would have thought otherwise so he starts again.

"Are you going to keep your hair like that?" An obvious distaste written on his face.

[xm-cherry]

▷french virgin party

[chanhore-blog]

He frowns when Heechul takes his hand instead of giving him the money, and he tries to clarify what he was going for but it seems the taller man is off in his own world. He struggles to pry himself out of Heechul’s grip, but it doesn’t do him much good and he has to wait for him to let go anyway.

He doesn’t hide the horrified look on his face when Heechul suggests that anything Yida had done over the course of the night had been intended as sexual attraction. “What?” he whispers, only slightly over-dramatic, as he watches Heechul saunter down the street like he already owned half of China. Looking around, he realizes that some people are watching him with a wary eye, others avoiding him entirely when they passed by.

Harboring any foreigner, much less a foreigner with bright red hair, in your apartment was like social suicide around here. He could already imagine the nice grandmother from upstairs who sometimes cooked for him, shutting the door in his face if he tried to return any dishes. Despite the aspirin he had taken, he could feel his headache coming back, and had no qualms with concluding that Heechul was definitely the cause of it. 

Considering letting Heechul wander off on his own (and hopefully get lost and never make his way to this side of town ever again) he turned in the direction that his apartment actually was. His conscience got the better of him, so he whistled loudly, getting the other’s attention.

“It’s this way,” he clarified, “and I still want the money.”

[xm-cherry]

▷french virgin party

[chanhore-blog]

"Are you an idiot?" Yida asks, wondering why anyone would still want to be his roommate after he had basically just assaulted them in the middle of a busy street. There were suspicious eyes on them, but many still turned the other cheek to violence, especially when it involved foreigners.

Despite himself, Yida starts wondering where he would even put Heechul if he accepted. The taller man would have to live on his dingy loveseat until they had enough money for a bed and maybe a drawer. There was a room in the back, practically a closet, that Yida had never used since he didn't really own that many things. He was in and out of the apartment most of the time, working himself to the bone for no reason other than to stave off his fear of idle time. When he wasn't working he was at the grocery store, stocking up on pre-made meals, and he hoped Heechul wasn't the type to laze around the house all day. Yida did not have the time or patience to help this man look for a job, and he certainly was not going to consider bringing him on board to one of his many part-time jobs.

Sighing, he wondered if he was thinking any of this out of guilt for how he'd treated him, but he shook off the thought, convincing himself that he had an ulterior motive, even if he couldn't quite think of one right now. It would extremely out of character for him to do anything out of the bottom of his heart, and he definitely was going to except a proper repayment for the favour, starting with the money that was now in Heechul's pocket. Silently, he extended his arm for it, waiting until Heechul got the message.

[xm-cherry]

▷french virgin party

[chanhore-blog]

Yida less-than-politely ignores Heechul's stammering. He ignores the memories of his own inadequacy in the Korean language, the constant whirling of vocabulary and word orders and mistakes rolling through his mind as he attended class after class of the same thing, the same worried glances and uncomfortably polite nods in his direction from whomever was stuck sitting next to him that day. 

He doesn't like any of it, doesn't like that Heechul is here, reminding him of things that don't matter, not when his mother tongue surrounds him easily with the false promises of acceptance and a normal life. Especially not when he hasn't considered living with a roommate since that incident four years ago.

The pathetic wad of paper flutters underneath his chin and he raises an eyebrow as he takes it and counts it in his hand. It's nowhere near enough for a month's rent, not even three weeks rent, and it's obvious Heechul has no consistant flow of cash to rely on. He considers it before his eyes flick up and he notices again how Heechul's still not looking at him. His jaw tightens as a familiar feeling churns around at the bottom of his stomach. The money in his hand feels dirty all of a sudden but the flash of pale muscular arms in his vision, somewhere behind Heechul reminds him that there's more at stake right now.

He's scared, and it shows on his face as he shoves Heechul to the side. His fists tighten by themselves and he blinks a couple of times as a surge of anger masks any other feelings. Yida can barely hear the words that tumble out of his mouth, and no matter how hard he tries he can't keep them in as he pushes the taller man against the wall of a building.

"Look at me," his voice is low and dangerous. When Heechul doesn't comply he repeats, "I said fucking look at me." He doesn't know exactly what he's doing as he realizes he's gripping the front of Heechul's shirt, eyes boring into the taller man's and he shakily retreats. Somehow, he remembers the bills in his left hand and absentmindedly pushes them back into Heechul's hands. 

The street is still busy when he backs away from the wall, staring at the pavement and anywhere but Heechul. Anywhere but the man he just possibly assaulted when all he did was ask for a place to stay. Not one to just run away from something, he stands awkwardly, some five feet away, waiting for Heechul to leave first.

[xm-cherry]

▷french virgin party

[chanhore-blog]

Yida stares at him distracted, knowing what the korean word meant but feeling half stunned by the fact that he was hearing the language again and half stunned by the fact that he'd just seen something out of the corner of his eye that he's sure hadn't been there before. He tries to keep his breathing calm and his face collected but he can't help the nervous glances as he tries to focus on what Heechul is saying.

A cold feeling wraps around his neck again and he doesn't bother perstering Heechul for an apology for the way he'd treated him, doesn't bother with the other customers that are looking at him suspisciously, and definitely doesn't bother with any more orders or dirty tables. He throws his apron, full of straws, bills, and the bottle of aspirin behind the counter and punches his card pointedly in front of the manager who tries to get him to stay for a little bit longer, at least until someone comes to cover for him. Yida knows no one will come, because his manager hasn't called anyone.

The open air on the street alleviates the pounding in his head marginally and he manages to take a deep breath before feeling cold fingers on his neck again. He tense visibly and his eyes open in a panic before he realizes it's the older man from inside the restaurant. Relaxing a bit, he frowns and stares blatantly, trying to stand his ground but the arm around his shoulder wouldn't let him and he stumbles forward a little bit. 

"Catch up?" He doesn't try to hide the distaste in his expression as he's dragged somewhere down the street, and he wills his feet to take a random turn, instead of leading the other guy to his house. "What do we have to catch up on?" he asks.

[xm-cherry]

▷french virgin party

[xm-cherry]

Heechul ignored them, pouting and looking at the ground, the seventeen-year old charade that he’d been acting out for nearly four months still lingering in him as he looked around in a childish manner and looked up towards Yida in an almost lost puppy way.

[chanhore-blog]

Yida sighed and leaned against the counter, head held gingerly between his fingers as he finished off one last order from the customer at the end of the aisle. The clatter of plates and utensils around the restaurant floor melded into one consistent pounding in his ears, and he shivered as he felt a short brush of cold fingers against his neck. Not now, he thought, gripping the edge of the table he was cleaning before a shove on his shoulder brought him back to the real world, to the quiet murmur of the customers and a little commotion to his side.

Two customers gazed strangely at him, eyes flicking to the side before looking back at their plates and Yida couldn't help the confusion furrowing his eyebrows and he held eye contact with them for a moment too long. His blood ran cold for a moment before he turned around and noticed the Korean man standing angrily behind him, waiting for some sort of reply to a question that Yida had barely heard, if at all.

The relief on his face is evident, and he heaves a sigh before looking back up to his former classmate.

"Uh.. what do you want?" he lets out casually, unsure why he hadn't just waited at his table if he was ready to order, it's not like Yida had been away for a particularly long time.

[xm-cherry]

▷french virgin party

[chanhore-blog]

"I need a hot pot for table seven!" He slapped the order on the small counter, not waiting to see if the chef would come pick it up before he was on his way back to the floor, punching one of his more lazy co-workers on his way out for making him pick up his slack. He passed the mirror on the hallway but didn't spare it a glance, already accustomed to avoiding it. 

The restaurant was packed, chairs (and the people in them) sliding in and out of his way as he tried his very best to keep the glasses in his tray stable. The water ends up spilling slightly but he doesn't bother wiping the glass for the customer when he puts it on the table.  This restaurant isn't that fancy.

He notices a small pounding in the middle of his forehead, and wondering if it had been there for a long time, and he just hadn't noticed. A quick glance at the clock on the wall show that he doesn't have anymore time to wonder because it's the middle of the lunch rush and he's already working 30 minutes past the end of his shift. There's a bottle of aspirin behind the main counter and he picks it up on his way past, pushing the lid up and popping one of them in his mouth before going to serve his next customer. 

Too busy trying to stuff the pill bottle into his pocket, he barely notices the man sitting at the table as he hands him his drink. It's only until he finally manages to shove it in his apron that he looks up and stops. A customer at the end of the aisle waves him over but Yida raises his finger for a moment and stares down at the man in front of him. Four years is a long time. Almost too long to still recognize the face in front of him, but it hadn't changed a bit. If he was being honest, he hadn't expected to meet with anyone, the school had been a fluke, a bad decision, and he didn't want to relive any of it. But he was impossibly curious about the hows and whys of Heechul's sudden appearance back in his life. He remembered the other clear as day, name, activities, friends.. everything.. the same way he remember everyone else.

He smirked slightly, leaning against the table as he waited for Heechul to look up. He watched the other fumble with the glass, and try to pick up the pieces, laughing as the skin healed instantly. Thankfully the brush and pail weren't far away, and he only had to reach below an unoccupied table to clean up the glass shard.

"It's good to see you," he lied, not answering the question because it wasn't something you said out loud in a packed restaurant. He patted Heechul on the shoulder gently and carried on covering for the next waiter with a curt "Let me know if you need anything else."