Hey guyyyyys. This is my attempt at a fluffy Hyukjae fic. Sorry if it disappoints! I wrote it just today and I'm like..........why did i try.
Anyway, right before I sat down and wrote this, I listened to "It's You," and it put me in the mood to write a fic; so here you go.
again. sorry if it sucks.
and I've been in a "first person pov" kind of mood for fics lately so IT'S IN FIRST PERSON POV. Idk it seems more personal to me than even second person pov.
Title: It was Always You
Genre: Fluuuuuff, romance
"Come here!" a six-year-old Hyukjae screamed and chased after me on the playground, carrying a lonely snail between his thumb and index finger. "He just wants to say hi and give you a kiss!"
I giggled as I turned my head to the silly kid behind me, but still ran full speed ahead for... away from that snail. Pumping my arms, I tried to outrun Hyuk even more and sped across the barkchipped lawn.
When I looked back again, I saw Hyukjae standing in the middle of the playground with his arms crossed, pouting. At that sight, I had to stop in my own tracks and put my hands on my hips. "Hyukjae-yah! Why did you stop? Weren't we playing and having fun?"
He took a slow jog to me, the snail obviously not in his hand anymore. "Well," he hesitated as he laid out his hands in front of his torso. "Snail-y must have slipped from my hands. I don't have him anymore."
Little Hyukjae looked at the ground with a disappointed face, and I felt so bad for him! Although I didn't want the snail anywhere near me, it felt like my best friend just lost his most prized possession.
I reached out an arm and pat him on the shoulder. "I'm sure he misses you just like you miss him."
The silly kid then reached in his pocket and whipped out the snail, waving it in my face as I hollered for him to take it away. "Gotcha!" he exclaimed with the gummiest smile ever.
"Hyukjae-yah! You're gonna die!" I pointed a finger at him before he took off running in the opposite direction, at which point I followed and ran after him.
-Ten years later-
riiiing. riiiing. riiiing.
I sniffled and wiped a tear from my eye, using a tissue to absorb the wetness.
And the phone pressed to my ear just kept ringing.
riiing. riiing. riiing.
Finally, a voice came over the other side and answered, "Hey, _____, what's up? Did you lose your homework again, or--"
Before he finished his question, I sniffled again and said to him, "Hyukkie, Kyuhyun broke up with me," and I sobbed aloud. My tears wouldn't stop pouring down my face, and it was hard to focus on anything but the feeling of my heart being ripped out of my chest and tossed in the garbage. The only thing I could hear was Hyukjae's words: "I'll be there in two."
Just as he promised, Hyuk was on sitting on my bed, holding me in his arms and hushing me, "Shhh, ____. You're all right; I'm here now." He stroked my hair as he took a deep breath and sighed, kissing my forehead.
"I just don't understand why! I thought Kyuhyun and I had such a good, close relationship. But next thing I know, he meets with me and tells me I'm too clingy and that he needs somebody who can be independent of him. It's not like I called him every day. Sometimes, I didn't even know where he was for days on end. What's wrong with me, Hyuk?"
"Shhh," he hushed again and closed his eyes. "Nothing's wrong with you; you have no fault. Kyuhyun was the problem."
I pressed a hand against his chest and nuzzled my face closer to him. With one finger, he swiped a tear that threatened to fall. Hyukjae continued, "Kyuhyun just couldn't realize what an amazing girlfriend he had--beautiful, kind, smart, gracious. He didn't deserve you; he still doesn't even understand how truly wonderful you are."
Hearing those words made me bawl even more, but I was lucky enough to have Hyukjae beside me to hold me, to comfort me.
I lifted my head and looked up at him with my swollen eyes, smiling the best I could. "You're the best, Lee Hyukjae. And sorry about getting your sweater drenched in tears."
Hyukjae gave me the most gorgeous smile and shook his head, "No no no, ____. You are the best. It's you. Another thing Kyu didn't know about you."
I snaked my arms around him and leaned in so much that we fell to lie down on the bed in each other's arms. Taking a deep breath, Hyukjae closed his eyes and sighed.
Letting my eyes shut, I smiled and breathed in his warm and encouraging scent. Just having him with me made all the difference.
-Thirteen years later-
Any minute now... I thought to myself as I anxiously waited in the airport gate, my knees nervously bouncing up and down, my eyes roaming to the clock every thirty seconds. He'll be here any minute now, I retold myself.
I take another quick look at the clock before I hear someone call my name. Well, not just someone--but him. As soon as I turn back to the passengers emerging from the tunnel, a smile crept onto my face from ear to ear and I exclaimed, "Lee Hyukjae!"
Running to meet him with open arms, I nearly leaped into his arms and couldn't stop rambling. "I missed you so much! You look well. How was America? Did you see a lot of good things? Did you see a lot of bad things? You were gone for soooo long. You have to tell me everything on the car ride!"
His smile was as amazing as ever, beaming with incomparable joy. Even after he studied in the States for six years, he still had the adorable wrinkles when he smiled. "I'm so glad to finally be back, and I'm really happy that you're the first one I get to see! Five years have made you even prettier, ____."
Linking arms, I bit my lip as we kept walking out of the airport.
When we arrived at his old house, he sighed as he set his bags down in his bedroom and fell back-first to the mattress. Spreading his arms and grinning like a silly kid, he concluded, "It's so good to be back here."
"It's good to have you back, too, Hyuk," I assured him as I laid down next to him and wrapped an arm around his torso. "So many things happened while you were gone! I'm sure your parents told you that your sister settled down and married and that they're gonna have a kid soon, right? And that our old friend Jungsoo married too."
He chuckled and nodded before turning and looking at my eyes. "And you?"
"Me?" I pointed at myself even though he couldn't have meant anybody else. Then I giggled and shook my head. "Not yet. I've been waiting for the right person. What about my handsome Hyukkie? Surely, some pretty American girl stole your heart."
Hyukjae sighed and looked back at the ceiling before grinning and laughing once. Closing his eyes, he inhaled slowly and remained silent.
Poking his side repeatedly, I bit my lip and asked again, "Is there a girl you love? Come on, Hyuk! You have to tell me; you can't hide things that well, you know? And don't try to lie either! I know you too well."
Our laughter filled the room as he opened his eyes and looked at me again. "Well, there is one girl, but I didn't meet her in America."
"So she's here in Korea?"
He affirmed that with one nod and smiled. "Actually, she is here."
I sat up and crossed my legs, turning to face him eagerly. "So tell me who! You have to let me meet her, okay? I have to approve before I let my Hyukjae fall in love."
All of a sudden, a disappointed expression fell upon him and closed his eyes again. Hyukjae buried his face in his hands and let out a loud, deep breath. It was so unlike him for his mood to change so quickly.
Did I say something wrong?
"Hyuk..." I tried.
He merely rolled onto his side and excused himself, "Ahh, it was a really long flight. I'm just tired, haha... We can to our favorite old diner after I nap for a little while, okay?"
Peacefully and silently, his eyes shut and his breathing slowed. I admired him like that, being so tranquil and content. After pulling a blanket over his body, I pet his hair and whispered, "I'm glad you're back, Hyukjae. I really did miss you. Every day, I woke up and thought of you first. So don't leave for such a long time again. You can't do that to me."
I noticed the corners of his mouth perk up slowly as his hand covered mine. With still-closed eyes, Hyukjae whispered back, “I’ll stay with you for eternity if that’s what you want. If that’s what will make you happy.”
Of course it would make me happy. Of course that’s how I want to live. Although I never openly said it—even to myself—before, I knew I loved him with every fiber of my being. And how couldn’t I? He was beyond flawless and perfect. There were just no words to describe how purely right he was in my eyes.
His stunning smile, his contagious laugh, his dorky moments, his caring personality. The cheerful and naïve times we spent together in childhood. The long nights of studying and complaining in school. Even when we’d pay money to see a dumb movie just to have some good laughs, I loved him to the ends of the earth, and I would have given anything for the reality he just described.
His eyes fluttered open and when his eyes met mine, I grinned but looked away and blushed. He stroked his thumb over the back of my hand and reiterated, “I won’t leave you again. Is that what you want? Because that’s what I want.”
Hyukjae let out a small sigh and looked down at our hands, still rubbing my hand with his finger.
“Hyukjae,” I said just above a whisper. “Earlier, you asked me a question, and I gave a vague answer… I only said that I’m waiting for ‘Mr. Right’ to come along so that I can marry him.” I hesitate and look away, taking a breath before I continue. “But the truth is that ‘Mr. Right’ doesn’t need to just come along; he has been here all along. And I was too blind to see that until now.”
He just laid there and stared into my eyes with that silly grin on his face. So I squeezed his hand and continued talking. “Lee Hyukjae,” I said, almost as if asking if he’s paying attention. “I’m looking directly at my Mr. Right.”
Hyukjae released my hand and took the sides of my neck in his two hands, pulling my face towards his until our lips met. Softly, gently, he kissed me.
I felt the entire world disappear. All that mattered was that the two of us existed together and were finally brought together. We were the only two people left, and the world around us didn’t exist.
My hands slithered up to meet behind his neck as I pulled him closer, kissing him back. His plump lips felt so perfectly fitted against mine, and I didn’t want to let him go.
After not long enough, our lips separated so that we could breathe. He looked at me with the most sincere eyes and stroked my cheek with his thumb.
“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear those words,” he admitted. “All these years that we’ve been friends, I wanted to tell you so badly how much I loved you, how much I needed you. But I never knew when the right moment would come.”
He continued, “The night you called me over because you and Kyuhyun broke up, I fell asleep wishing that I could hold you like that at the end of every day, that we could grow old together and have a family together and just be together. At every moment, in everything you did, I just grew to love you more.”
“When I was in America, maybe there was a pretty girl here and there, and maybe one or two of them had feelings for me. But I didn’t look at any of them. In my mind, there was only you. It was you or nothing. It has always been you.”
As he spoke, my eyes watered up and I let a few drip from my eyes. I didn’t try to hold them back because they were not sad tears; I was only crying because of how happy I was. Because of how happy Hyukjae made me.
I kissed him again. It felt just as good if not better that second time.
Everything felt right when we were together, when we touched, when we talked of love. Every morning, I woke up and saw his beauty. Every night, I fell asleep in his arms. Sure, we had our troubles and arguments. But like he promised that day, he never left me; he stayed with me for eternity. Because I told him that’s what I wanted.
-Forty-five years later-
“Lee Hyukjae,” I pleaded, kneeling over his bed. “You told me you’d never leave me. You told me you’d always stay with me! Why are you doing this now? I need you, Hyukjae. I need you.”
I held onto his cold hand as he coughed and wheezed. The doctor stood beside me, resting a hand on my shoulder, trying to assure me, “It’s just his time, ma’am. He has lived a really long, good life with some people who obviously love him.”
I cried, “But he promised!”
As he slowly turned his head, I could hear him try to speak. All that came out was a weak whisper, but I could make out his last three words.
