[FIC] The Burden

Title: The Burden
Characters: Super Junior, OC
Rating: G
Wordcount: 2.394
Summary: The life of an idol is never easy, but for Super Junior, it's even harder
A/N: This fic was written for a purpose. Yesterday evening I found myself being at around 660 posts on a SJ forum and I wondered; what to do when I reach 666 posts? As I replied to a story here and there I finally reached my 665th post and decided to ask some of my friends where I should post my 666th post. Well, no one really had an idea, since 666 is such an evil number. That was, until my most amazing & wonderful Twinnie -Maxime- told me to write an evil story and post that one up as 666th post. When asked about what I should write, she answered 'You, me and Super Junior.' So I was set. I then spent half an hour writing in bed before sleeping and the whole of today in school to finish the shot by evening, which I succeeded in. ^^

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The life of an idol is never really easy. One couldn’t say that idols have lots of free time or that they can do whatever they want, but when compared to other idols and idol groups, Super Junior knew a life that was twenty times as hard as any of the others’, if not worse than that, for they carried a burden that none of the other idol groups knew the real weight of. But the members could not complain, for no one was allowed to know about The Burden. Revealing it to the world would be like opening Pandora’s box. No, they were doomed to deal with it all by themselves. Day by day by day..

Five of them had managed to escape so far. Each with their own excuses..

Zhou Mi and Henry were luckiest of all, as they had their homes in China or stayed in separate houses in Korea. They didn’t have to go head over heels trying to find a good reason why they would need to be outside of the dorm.

Kibum had been the first to succumb to the stress. He had gone to the president and had begged the company to give him more acting schedules. Somehow his begging had apparently been very convincing, for they had given him two movies and another possible one in the future. He had no reason anymore to be in the dorm from then on, so his escape was successful.

Kangin had tried to get more programmes as well, but when they refused, he had gone berserk. On one of the evenings that he went away to escape, he had drunk a little overly too much and had crashed his car into some taxi along the road, successfully earning himself a year out of the dorm and away from The Burden. Later on it had proven to become three full years without it. They all envied him in some way.

Hangeng, because of his foreign genes he had had more trouble. Unable to take it any longer, he had filed a lawsuit against the company, blaming it for its ‘slavery contract.’ Not that that wasn’t true, but they all knew the real reason was different from that. He was just trying at his own best knowledge to escape The Burden.

The other ten were less fortunate.. They had no other choice but to stay in the dorm and do their duties. They all knew the consequences of slacking or backing out of their needed work and none of them wanted to take that shot. That’s why they dealt with the burden as good as they could, doing everything the best way they knew how to. Yet it was hard, for The Burden was not just a secret desperately needing to be kept, no, it was more than that. There were two of them actually.. Two what? you might wonder now. Well.. As Heechul would say it..

“Brats! Annoying little brats!” The blond-haired, short-tempered young man grabbed his bag. “Hyung, I’m off to Youngstreet. Good luck over at Sukira.” he muttered to the other blond-haired young man in the band. The latter looked up from his magazine and smiled.

“Good luck to you too, Chullie.” he mumbled, as the other walked out of the room and into the dreaded living room.

“I’m leaving!” he called through the dorm to inform his members. Immediately two heads popped up from behind the couch.

“Oppa ppoppo!”

“I don’t have time right now, I need t-”

“Lena wants ppoppo!” one of the girls whined, already starting to look like she was going to tear up.

“Okay, fine, fine. Come here while I put on my shoes, oppa will give you a kiss.” He surrendered. He muttered an annoyed ‘brats’ under his breath, before leaning down to give them both a kiss on their cheek.

And that’s how it always went. Whenever Heechul left for something or returned from his schedules, they would demand a kiss. Never from other members. Only from him. Because they knew that Heechul hated those kisses. But every time he refused to give them one, they would pout and whine and cry until he finally gave in.. Which he always did, for the noise they could make was unbelievable.

But he wasn’t the only one bothered by them. Almost all of them suffered from the consequences of having The Burden in their dorm. Who else? you might wonder now. Well, let’s take Yesung for example.. He would always refer to them as..

“Animal abusers!”The dark-haired young man with slightly squinted eyes snatched his turtle out of their hands and gently carried it to its cage, where he sealed it away from the girls’ evil claws. They immediately squinted their eyes and started pouting, obviously threatening him with possible crying. But he had seen it too often and he knew exactly what to do.

“Oh, look! Is that Heebum over there? Or was it Baengshin maybe?” he exclaimed, pointing at something in the door opening behind their backs. Immediately the two of them got up and ran out, excitedly calling for Heechul’s two cats.

With a sigh, the young man gathered the markers they had used to colour on his turtle’s shield and put them away in his desk, hoping the two wouldn’t find them yet another time. After making sure the markers were stuffed away, he quickly went to check on his turtle, to see if it had suffered much from their actions.

They would do it every time again, grabbing one of his turtles and doing something to it. Sometimes they would colour its shield, sometimes they would play with it as if it were a baby doll – putting it to bed, trying to feed it milk, giving it clothes, .. – and sometimes they would just take it and put it somewhere in the dorm, trying to find out if it could find its own way back home. It would always be Yesung’s turtles they played with, for the cats would all just struggle their way out if they got annoyed by them.

Yet it wasn’t only the animals they tried to abuse. Well, abuse.. No one really knew if they did it on purpose or if they really thought they were meant to colour the turtles’ shields and pull the cats’ hair or tail. Apart from the animals, there were also pieces of furniture or other lifeless belongings that had to undergo an alike treatment. The maknae had the most experience with this. He didn’t have his own personal nickname for them, though. When they bothered him, he would mostly cry something like..

“Hyung!!!!” The slightly curly haired young man pulled his desk chair away from his desk, quickly making the distance between his precious table and their hands as big as possible. He fumed as he took in the damage they had done this time. There were colourful doodles all over the table, going from childishly drawn bunnies to random twirls and lines. His head snapped up when the door opened.

“What’s the problem?” his roommate asked as he walked in. The moment his eyes fell on the two on the desk chair, he sighed and walked up to them. “Didn’t I tell you not to bother Kyuhyun oppa anymore?” he mumbled, stroking through one’s hair. The two only huffed and pulled away from his touch, like they always did. Sungmin took a step back, hurt, like he always was, for they seemed to not like him the least bit.

“Hyung!” the maknae called out a second time. “Both of you!” It didn’t take long for his two wanted hyungs to come into the room. The moment they saw what the problem was, each one of them scooped up one of the two on the chair and carried them out of the room. The two girls happily wrapped their arms around the neck of their own favourite oppa and stuck out their tongues at the maknae as they were carried out.

Kyuhyun was left behind with Sungmin, looking at the ravage on his desk for a while, before sighing and going to the kitchen to grab some water and a towel to clean up the doodles. Sungmin helped him with this, looking sad all the way through the activity, until the maknae patted his back and told him that he shouldn’t let it bother him so much, for they were two annoying brats anyway. Sungmin nodded, but his face didn’t brighten up until long after the incident.

Yet it would happen again, at least once a week, sometimes even more often than that. They would trash another part of the maknae’s desk or attack his bed or closet, until he would find out and call his hyungs to come and get them. But Sungmin would always be there first and he would always try to be close to the two, but they would never let him. Every time again, they refused his touch or care, after which they would happily be scooped up by their favourite oppas.

No one was spared, really. They would steal Shindong’s food, put an overdose of salt on it, or pour water over it. They would hang around Ryeowook’s legs as he was cooking, mix up all the ingredients or throw over the pot of food. They would assault Siwon the moment he came in, but he loved them dearly, so he didn’t mind as much, yet when they trashed his Bible for the umpteenth time or woke him up from his needed sleep, even his never ending love and patience would sometimes falter.

It was safe to say that Eunhyuk and Donghae suffered very little from the antics of the two. As the five year old twin’s favourite oppas, they had privileges. The girls would never trash their stuff, would never bother them as they were working or concentrating and they would never ask for something they knew they actually couldn’t really get. The only problem the two friends had, was that they had to come running every time the girls did something bad to take them away from the crime scene before the other members would explode. But it was hardly to be called a burden, when one took in account what the others had to go through.

But, you might be thinking now, then what about Leeteuk? Well, he was a completely different story.. When it was bedtime the girls would crawl into bed with him and he would read them a bedtime story. They would be asleep by the time he finished, so he could fall asleep without problems himself. Sometimes, over night, they would crawl out of his bed to go sleep with their favourite oppas, but they never woke him. Around Leeteuk, they were the sweet, cute, kind and adorable children that one would think them to be at first glance. Which had only one reason..

“Appa, annyeong!” both of the girls called out, waving happily at the blond-haired young man who was getting ready to leave. He looked up from closing his bag and smiled at them.

“Anna, Lena, come give appa a kiss.” he said, crouching down so they could reach his face. They happily ran up to him and each kissed one of his cheeks. As they did so, he pulled the both of them into a hug and patted their backs. “Now be good kids, yes?” he then told them. “Don’t bother the ahjumma too much.”

“Anio appa, we’ll be good!” the eldest of the two, Anna, said and they both started nodding like crazy to convince him of their promise. As he got up and walked out, the twins ran into the kitchen, where they sat down nicely and ate their rice cakes in silence. He knew they would keep their promise. They never bothered the ahjumma. They only bothered his members, and no matter how often he scolded them for it, they would keep doing it, for they had too much fun watching the young men get annoyed with them, without ever exploding in anger.

“Ahh, sometimes they’re so sweet.” he mumbled as he closed the door behind him. Siwon, who had been waiting for him, smiled sourly.

“And sometimes they’re a real pain, hyung.” he replied to the absentmindedly made comment. The leader looked up in surprise, but smiled softly when he saw his friend.

“I never told you to be so nice to them, Siwon-ah.” He pulled his bag better over his shoulder and started to walk down the hallway.

“But they’re yours, hyung! Even if I would be aggressive like that, I can’t hit your kids!” The younger one’s eyes turned big in shock as he thought of the terrifying idea of hitting a kid.

“They’re not mine!” the eldest immediately protested. “I’m still a v.. I always play safe!”

“They were dropped off as said to be yours.” the younger one retorted. “Not that that means much, since everyone can drop off a kid like that..” He sighed. “But if you don’t claim them, then why are we still taking care of them?” Leeteuk smiled knowingly and patted Siwon’s shoulder.

“If I gave you the choice, Siwon-ah, would you throw them out?” he asked, already knowing what the answer would be, even though it came only minutes later.

“No..”

Why not? you might wonder now..

Because the girls could be nice too.
When they were not annoying..
When they nicely played with their toys..
When they cutely fell asleep on the couch after a tiring day..
When they came running to get a hug, or a kiss in Heechul’s case, the moment the guys got home from schedules..
When they were their happy, cheery, bouncy selves after the guys had a day full of have to’s and stay still’s..
When they showed their love for the ten older males that were their only family..

Yes, Super Junior knew a life that was twenty times as hard as any of the others', if not worse than that, for they carried a burden that none of the other idol groups knew the real weight of. But the members could not complain, for sometimes, The Burden would become The Blessing and the laughter of the two little girls would be the only thing cheering them up on a gloomy day.