[FIC] Falling Slowly

Title: Falling Slowly
Characters: Sungmin, Leeteuk
Rating: G
Wordcount: 1.373
Summary: Sungmin doesn't know Leeteuk, but he tries anyway.
A/N: I had Sungmin's version of Falling Slowly stuck in my head for like a WHOLE WEEK. So I had no other choice but to make a little one-shot for it. Yet when I started to write, the storyline went in a whole other direction, but because for me this story is still connected to hours of listening Sungmin sing Falling Slowly. xD If this fic therefore seems to have no connection at all with the title or the song, that's normal. I just had to keep it connected to one another to make it work out for myself. ^^ Enjoy reading and please do comment. ^^

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I don’t know you, but I want you all the more for that
Words fall through me, always fool me, and I can't react
And games that never amount to more than they're meant will play themselves out
Take this sinking boat and point it home, we've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice, you've made it now
Falling slowly, sing your melody, I'll sing along


They say we look like best friends, act like best friends, sound like best friends. But what we are in real might just as well be the exact opposite of best friends. Strangers sounds like a nice way to sum it all up. I have worked together with him for quite a lot of years now, but he’s still like a stranger to me. With everything he does, he gives his own reasons to it. Every step he takes has been well thought-out and reconsidered at least five times before he does it. He smiles when it is appropriate to smile, talks when it is needed to talk and stays unnoticed when he doesn’t want to steal the spotlight. Every move he makes is carefully planned into his way of living and everything he does completely makes sense. Why he does things is crystal clear to me. I know his personality like I know my back pocket and I can tell what he will do before he does it. Yet what goes on inside his mind will probably forever remain a mystery to me.

He sometimes comes up to me, telling me that he has something to say to me. I then listen how he talks for ages. He seems to never stop talking once he started. One word after the other comes out of his mouth. Put together they form stories about things that happened to him in his day, but they never reveal anything. He tells his stories like they’re a news reportage, never adding any bit of personal feeling in them.

What he feels, he keeps to himself, unwilling to let others know about it. It leaves me speechless. There are so many things happening to him, yet he never talks to anyone about it. It makes me wonder if he doesn’t need us or if he simply doesn’t want to bother us with what goes on in his head. I worry for him, yet find myself without words whenever I want to ask him about it. It feels like there is something inside me that tells me not to ask him, because I won’t like the answer. So I remain curious, I keep doubting and wondering, but I never get an answer to my wordless questions.


Yet lately it has become a problem. He is depressed. It’s obvious. He doesn’t talk to anyone about it, but his whole being and everything he does simply screams out ‘depression.’ I don’t know what to make of it. I wonder if I should go up to him this time and ask him about it, or if I should just leave it. One way or another he always solves his own problems. Only this time it seems to take much longer than it should do. He has been like this for a few weeks already.

Being depressed over little things, watching romantic movies and crying along with them. He’s really not in the right state of mind to be releasing a fourth album, that’s for sure. Just like now. He has finished watching one of those movies again and he must be wasting his tenth box of tissues this week. I glance at him over the top of my book. He looks really pitiful, like I could break him with the smallest movement ever. Yet I still doubt if I should go up to him or not. In the end, there are enough others around he might be closer to. As I quickly glance around the room, I let out a little sigh. Or not..

In the end, I make my decision and get up, putting the book down on the couch where I just sat. I calmly walk up to him, pulling the tissue out of his hand and leaning towards him. He gives me a surprised look, his face not two centimetres away from mine. I shake my head as I brush the box of tissues aside and sit down next to him.

“Ok, so now you’re going to tell me what’s wrong with you or you’re going to stop acting like a depressed person.” My words seem to surprise him even more than my actions did, and he only stares at me, without responding. “Hyung, I don’t have all day. My book is really interesting, so please do start speaking quickly.”

He closes his mouth, swallows and then just continues staring. I sigh. Alright, so he doesn’t feel like talking. Fine. At least no one can say I didn’t try now. I start to get up again, but he suddenly grabs my hand and pulls me back, making me lose my balance. As I land back on the couch, I find myself lying more on him than on the couch itself. With a little chuckle, I decide this position is fine as well, so I look up at him from his lap.

“I’ll stop acting like a depressed person.” he says, looking down on me with one of those weird stares of his. “But please stay with me for a little while.” I smile up at him.

“Whatever you say, hyung.”


I lie there in silence for a bit, just looking at the ceiling, while he keeps observing me. In the end, curiosity wins over patience and I lock eyes with him again. It seems to surprise him, as he quickly glances away. Another smile pulls up the corners of my mouth.

“Ah, hyung.. What are you being all ashamed about? You never used to be like this.” I happily poke his chin with my finger, only to follow his jaw line up to his cheek afterwards. A little smile breaks through on his face as he turns his head to catch my finger with his lips. I pull it away just in time to avoid that contact and playfully push his nose, chuckling a little again. “You’re too slow, hyung. Are you getting old?” He chuckles as well.

“Or maybe you’re too fast, Minnie. Have you been practicing?” he replies. I get up a little to be able to give him a so called ‘angry’ look. He only laughs, making me smile again as well. “How are you lying here anyway? You look like you’re my girlfriend.”

“Ah, but you pulled me down like this!” I protest. Yet I immediately change my strategy and wrap my arms around his middle. As I look up at him with the cutest look I can manage, I add with a very high-pitched voice: “Would you mind it that much, Leeteuk oppa?”


He stares at me in surprise for a few seconds, before trying to pull free from my grip. Since that doesn’t work, he pushes me on to the ground, but I simply pull him along with me, not wanting to let him get away that easily.

As we fall down on the carpet and roll over once, I still don’t let go of his middle. We end up being stopped by the small table and just remain lying there for a moment in silence. Then I can suddenly hear him laughing softly. His laugh makes me chuckle as well and soon we’re both laughing together. I snuggle closer to him and press my cheek against his chest. After a moment, I can feel his arms around me as well, making me smile.

“I think I would, Minnie, because it would not be nice for the other members that my girlfriend is prettier than any of theirs.” he replies jokingly to my earlier question. I can still hear the smile in his words, but it is what he says itself that makes me chuckle this time. With a satisfied feeling, I take note of my successful attempt of cheering up my hyung. Just in time, for we were running out of tissues.