fic: hana kimi, ensemble, pg.
Morning, I have Hana Kimi (twdrama version) fic!
9 ways to procrastinate at ying kai boys' school
fandom: hana kimi (hua yang shao nian shao nu)
characters: rui xi, quan, xiu yi, mei tian, da shu, si nan, julia.. principal cast, basically. (paired as in canon!)
rating: pg
disclaimer: Uhm, manga was drawn by Hisano Nakajo and the live action produced by Comic Productions Co., Ltd. so I'm about as far from owning anything as Finland is from Taiwan.
words: ~5,000 (ya rly.)
notes: Xiexie to sioniann for mental support and beta services. All Mandarin words and pop culture references explained in the story notes below fic. These vignettes take place throughout and beyond canon so SPOILERS FOR ALL OF THE DRAMA.
1. contemplation of own sexual preference
Jin Xiu Yi simply couldn't be gay. He had continuously listed the reasons for this inside his own head. He played sports - and he didn't know of a single soccer player who was actually gay. Yes, the players did touch each other on the field a lot, in some European countries they even embraced each other tightly, kissed each other on the mouth - but he wasn't Italian, and neither was he gay. Secondly, he wasn't pretty in the way gay men were supposed to be in order to attract other gay men. He did like to think of himself as ruggedly handsome, the kind that would easily attract Rui Xi - girls, that is, girls. Not Rui Xi, because Rui Xi was a guy, not a girl. Though if Rui Xi was a girl, he'd be a very cute girl.. Perhaps dressed in something light pink, her face lit with a huge smile as she would purr with the sweetest voice, “Ge ge...” and Xiu Yi would laugh softly and reply to her call by placing his arms around her soft body. They'd hug each other, in a perfect picture of pure love.
He sighed and was only disturbed when Da Shu threw an eraser at his head.
“You're making that perverted face again,” he told Xiu Yi. “It's creeping out my friend over here.”
He then bent over his homework again, leaving Xiu Yi both scared and embarrassed. He slipped into those little fantasies a little too easy. And how come Rui Xi was always dressed like a girl? Xiu Yi groaned. Not only did he have to be gay, he had to be a really weird gay on top of it.
Not that he actually was gay, though. Because he played sports. Right.
He got up and slapped Da Shu on the back in an overly manly manner.
“I'm going running!” he exclaimed, and thought about adding something about it obviously being what manly men did, but maybe Da Shu got the point by the slap on his back. He sure was coughing like he understood exactly how manly Xiu Yi was.
He stretched and ran ten laps, clearing his head in the cool of the evening. It was fine. Everything was fine.
He jogged to the vending machine and met a familiar smile. Rui Xi beamed at him, offering Xiu Yi the juice can he had just bought.
“Xiu Yi, you look like you've run a marathon. Have some of my juice!”
“NO! I mean, no thanks, it's okay,” Xiu Yi flashed a smile at his friend's weirded out expression and left out a laugh. “It's fine. I'll buy my own drink.”
His hand shook as he stuffed the coins into the vending machine and he just laughed at each of Rui Xi's worried, friendly questions about whether he was feeling okay. He punched the button for the wrong type of soda and drank it quickly, smiling widely while gulping down the drink he wouldn't have normally touched at all. Cranberry-watermelon. Yuck. But he smiled and Rui Xi smiled back, though a little awkwardly, and they said bye to each other.
He walked back to his dorm room in a daze like state, thinking about Rui Xi's smile, the touch of worry in his voice. Xiu Yi sunk into his bed miserably. He was a goner. A sex monster. Maybe even gay. His life was officially over.
2. internet
Zuo Yi Quan smiled to himself. Rui Xi had been on his computer once again. It amused him because even had he been completely unaware of her true gender, her web-surfing choices would've surely tipped him off. What guy would surf Vic Zhou fansites and galleries of kitten photos? She had even saved some of the visited websites under his bookmark folder.
Just as well, he figured. He could tease her about it later tonight. Or maybe he wouldn't, as he didn't really want to make her feel less secure about her secret. She did forget herself sometimes, or truthfully speaking often, but it didn't really matter as long as he was there to make sure her secret was safe from the rest of the world.
Of course, the dumbhead had also forgotten to log herself off an instant messenger program Quan himself never used. Suddenly a window popped up out of nowhere, and some American screen name wrote messages intended for Rui Xi in English.
Quan's English was good, but he still struggled to phrase himself in a response. In the end he sent the shortest possible reply, no matter how rude it might've come off as.
“This is Lu Rui Xi's room mate, sorry. Bye.”
The American friend of Rui Xi's quickly responded with a curious question but Quan closed the window and the program quickly. On the same moment, Rui Xi herself entered their room.
“Hey,” she said and quickly walked over to see what he was looking at. “I bought some juice. Xiu Yi was acting weird again.”
“That's normal for him,” Quan quipped and then suddenly noticed which website he had open in the browser window.
“I didn't know you liked Vic Zhou!” Rui Xi said, excitement evident in her voice.
Quan moved uncomfortably. “Hey, it's your link I clicked on!”
Rui Xi wasn't looking at him. She was staring at the screen, eyes almost glued to it. “So shuai... I-I mean, Vic Zhou reminds me of me, that's why I saved the link. He's very manly, we're both very manly.” She lowered her voice in a comical manner that made him smile again.
“Okay, okay. Go take a shower.”
“Fine.” Her face relaxed into a smile. “You can finish my juice if you like.”
“Thanks,” Quan said and closed the web browser. Rui Xi glanced once more at the computer screen and looked a bit disappointed not to see the idol staring back at her. Quan tried not to feel vaguely jealous.
He finished her juice, and felt happy - but not because of the juice. After all, it wasn't Vic Zhou who Rui Xi had flown to Taiwan for.
3. therapy
“...and then he brought his face reaaally close to my face, and I asked him if he'd been drinking because everytime he drinks he turns into a kissing monster and he said no but he was really close to me and looking at me really oddly and then he just pulled away and...”
Mei Tian wondered if it was possible for one's spirit to leave one's body completely and maybe land on a more interesting destination than the body's current location. Or just somewhere quiet. A beach in a foreign land, far away from school boys or girls or teenage romance or all the people who generally annoyed him or were scared to death of him.
Sadly Lu Rui Xi wasn't one of the latter. “...Teacher?” she asked expectantly, looking at him from under her eyebrows.
“Yes?” he asked tiredly.
“What do you think?”
Her problems had become even more repetitive since she had been close to leaving Ying Kai altogether, it seemed. Quan knew about her true identity, of course, and had implied it several times, probably also to her face, but Rui Xi herself had never quite gotten the message. She still loved him secretly, he still loved her secretly, but she still troubled herself with the problems they had long passed through. She was a bit simple but that was really nothing new.
“I think..” Mei Tian began, knowing that perhaps under some absurd moral law it was wrong to tease a lovesick teenager like this, but he had never been one to care.
“You think..?”
“I think...” He paused for dramatic effect. “You should just do it.”
Her eyebrows knitted together and she did a confused head tilt. “Do what?”
He smiled and leaned forward in his chair. This was going to be good if she bit the hook. And knowing Rui Xi, she probably would. He crooked his own finger to make her lean closer to listen and even though her face wore a worried expression, she leaned her ear towards him obediently.
“Jump in his bed at night and ravish him in the dark!” Mei Tian spoke in her ear. Then he leaned back and observed the exact reaction he had been hoping for.
She went white in the face, and then blushed violently. “Teacher, how can you be so dirty!” she exclaimed nearly loud enough for the people in the hallway to hear her.
He smiled in a satisfied manner. “Just a suggestion.”
“You're of no help,” Rui Xi said, frowning. She got off her seat and walked towards the door of his office with slumped shoulders.
Mei Tian couldn't help but feel the tiniest pang of guilt somewhere in his chest (or maybe it was simple muscle pain - he couldn't really tell what was his conscience knocking and what wasn't).
“Hey,” he said and she turned around to give him a miserable look. “Zuo Yi Quan cares about you a lot. Shouldn't that solve all your problems?”
It was a sweet gesture, which he naturally should've avoided making, since the next thing he knew, she had sprung up to him, squeezing him tightly in her arms. He suddenly felt uncomfortable and nauseated.
“Get off!” he groaned, but she hugged him even more enthusiastically.
“Thank you, teacher!” she squealed happily and then let him go only to smile at him brightly. “You're the best gay ever!”
After those words she exited his office, and he found himself even more bored than he had been while listening to her droning on about Quan. He played a game of Solitaire and took a beauty nap on the couch. So maybe his job did have its perks.
4. modelling
Liang Si Nan was happy. Three hundred more friendings on his wretch blog and it would officially be one of the most popular weblogs in all of Taiwan - and that included all those idol drama stars' promotional websites. If the trend kept up, he'd be starring in It Started With a Kiss 2 alongside Ariel Lin instead of Joe Cheng.
Well, maybe not, but confidence did look good on him and he was well aware of that. The digital camera his sister had given him some months back had quickly become his most priced possession. Of course, Mei Tian had quickly noted his excessive use of it, and one of the first comments his weblog had received had actually been from the school doctor mocking his nephew's camera-willingness (this was Si Nan's politically correct term for photowhoring).
Gladly Si Nan was aware that where there was talent, there were also jealous crowds. Which is exactly why he needed to so extensively explain Dorm 2's need for better lamps at the last Dormitory Leaders' meeting. Naturally the first reason was make sure everybody had better light to study in but wasn't it also important that nobody could look good under the current fluorescent light they were objected to?
For this reason Si Nan took his latest pictures in bathrooms. For some peculiar reason the light always seemed to be cast perfectly there. Bathroom light suited his features, and nobody visiting the toilets usually dared to complain about him being there. If anything, his glare at them usually made them realize they didn't need to use the bathroom after all and so he got his privacy.
There were, of course, exceptions.
“Hi, Senior Nan,” Jin Xiu Yi greeted him as Si Nan was about to snap a picture of himself and his brand new designer sunglasses. He was so surprised that he dropped the glasses in the sink.
“Xiu Yi, what are you doing here?” he asked irritably and Xiu Yi looked at him quizzically, gesturing the toilets and himself.
“Don't mind me!” he said happily and walked over to one of the toilets. Si Nan felt oddly disgusted.
“Shouldn't you be using another bathroom now that you're gay?” he quipped sarcastically.
Xiu Yi took no offence. “Did you know I met my love Rui Xi in this very bathroom?”
Si Nan didn't. Xiu Yi came over and began washing his hands, smiling goofily at Si Nan through the mirror. “Of course, I hadn't fallen in love with him yet back then, but I felt the connection there, as our eyes met through this mirror here and--”
“My glasses!” Si Nan interrupted, fishing his latest designer purchase from the bottom of the sink amidst the soapy water. “Xiu Yi, you..”
Xiu Yi looked worried for a while but seeing the glasses emerge from beneath the water, he smiled casually. “Sorry. But hey, look, they're fine, no harm done.” He slapped a wet hand onto the senior student's back.
Si Nan controlled his increasing anger and merely threw Xiu Yi a death glare before exiting the bathroom, camera in one hand, dripping wet glasses in the other, swearing revenge silently.
So maybe the world wasn't his personal studio. Yet.
5. xxx
Ye Shen really liked girls. That was a given. Ri Hui also liked them. They both just really, really liked girls.
They had a slight problem with liking the same girls. Even girls they had never physically met.
“Ri Hui!” Ye Shen exclaimed when his friend entered their dormitory room. “Where are my --” Suddenly words got stuck at the back of his throat. He couldn't exactly admit to owning that sort of materials, could he? “...magazines?” he finished in an awkward manner.
“Xiu Yi borrowed some of the music magazines, he wants to make a mix tape to somebody.” Ri Hui looked at him quizzically. “Why are you so worried?”
“Not those magazines.” Ye Shen coughed embarrassedly. “The other kind of magazines.”
“Oh.” Ri Hui thought for a moment. “Oh. Those.”
“Yes, those.” They didn't look at each other in the eye. Ye Shen began thinking maybe he should've just gone on the internet for this sort of thing. He really didn't need them right now but he always felt a bit awkward when he didn't know where they were and what Ri Hui had done to them and if Ri Hui had in fact done something with them that Ye Shen had wanted to do. It was awkward enough that they occasionally brushed each others thighs while sitting close in the cafeteria or held hands when caught up in their fantasies but now with these ..magazines, it was almost as if they were sharing a bit too much.
“The last I looked, they were still under your mattress.” Ri Hui broke the silence and stared at his friend's reddening face.
“Oh.” Ye Shen lifted his own mattress, still avoiding Ri Hui's look. “Look at that. Thanks.”
“Don't mention it.”
“I'll just go now.”
“Right.”
Ye Shen could only breathe properly outside the dormitory room. Lessons in life, he figured. Don't share women with your best friend.
6. conversation
Da Shu was walking to the dormitory late in the evening when a spirit of a little girl stopped him on his tracks. He remembered her from before, had talked to her several times and knew her story by heart now. Her end had been a tragic one - an illness that took her life at the age of 11 - but her spirit was happy. She visited her mother a lot, for comfort and good times. She had told Da Shu that her mother sensed her, but didn't always respond. It made her a little sad but she coped well.
“Hi!” she greeted him.
“Hello meimei!” He smiled. “You're here again.”
“I was bored,” she said. “How are you?”
“Just fine, thanks. My room mate's going through a lot. It's a bit odd. Mostly I'm just trying to focus on exams but it's difficult.”
“Why?” she asked and her small luminescent form sat down on the grass. He sat down on the bench next to her.
“There's a new student at our school. His appearance is male but I feel his spirit is female. It's confusing.” Da Shu sighed.
“Then it must be a girl. No boy could have a girl's spirit.” The girl giggled. “It would be very odd, though.”
“Yeah, it would.” He smiled to himself. “It'll make sense to me some day, I'm sure.”
“Spirits don't lie,” she just said, casually as ever. “I should go. Me and Ye Ling are going to visit an amusement park tonight.”
“Oh? Will it be empty?”
“Yes. We just hope we won't make any noise and scare anybody.” She frowned a bit. “I don't like scaring people.”
Da Shu smiled. “Nobody does.” He then saw a shape of a human appearing somewhere in the close distance.
“Bye bye,” the little girl spirit said and ran off, vanishing somewhere near amidst the trees of the Ying Kai campus.
He walked back to the dormitories and ran into Rui Xi.
“I just talked about you with a friend!” Da Shu told him happily.
Rui Xi appeared shocked but Da Shu didn't mind. People who had no knowledge or awareness of spirits found it difficult to understand them. They rather thought spirits didn't exist at all, would rather dismiss them completely. That was fine, too.
Da Shu wanted to make people understand, though. That the spirits were gentle and friendly, and rarely angry or hostile. That the spirits were still here on this Earth so that they could make their presence felt. So that people would care for them as if they never left in the first place. When people didn't, it made Da Shu a little sad, even though the spirits themselves never seemed shaken by the fact. They were just glad to know Da Shu - just as he was glad to know them.
7. partying
When Rui Xi danced, she looked awkward. When she danced drunk, she looked like a girl. A drunk girl, but very much a girl all the same. Their friends were watching her performance a little too closely and Quan was worried that even with their alcohol-addled brains, they might figure something out judging by the way Rui Xi's body moved to the silly pop music. They were hanging out in Xiu Yi and Da Shu's room, trying to get their minds off some of the stress final exams were bringing out in each of them. It had been moments ago when Ye Shen and Ri Hui had come up with the brilliant idea of a dance competition - winner gets the last beer. Rui Xi had been first in line to dance.
“You look like an idiot,” Quan said and stood up, taking her arms to prevent her from dancing. Instead she began dancing with him, moving his arms around her and putting her own around him. He blushed. This was not good.
“Oh come on, Quan! You can do better than that!” she said excitedly and pulled at his shirt to make him move more.
He grew increasingly aware of the way the others in the room were looking at the two of them. He spun Rui Xi around and backed himself onto his seat, pulling her with him to sit on his lap, restraining her arms.
“Calm down. Your dancing's awful,” Quan complained loud enough for the others to hear and to his relief, Ri Hui got up to dance in his usual goofy style to replace Rui Xi on the virtually non-existent dance floor.
“Quan,” she whined drunkenly, leaning her head against his shoulder, “why won't you let me dance?”
“You can dance later.” The thought made him realize how close she was to him right now, how tightly he was holding her. He hastily added, “When you're sober. Tomorrow.”
“Will you become a kiss monster tonight?” she asked him, whispering like a secret - and he couldn't figure out whether she sounded hopeful or worried, or a mix of both.
He swallowed hard, considering the possibility. He really wanted to. All the time, but especially now, her so close to him, his heart beating faster and the thought of just the two of them in their room, later that night. Alone. He really wanted to.
But even more did he want to not complicate things between him and Rui Xi. He didn't want her to have to worry about people finding out about her secret, or the two of them. He didn't want to lose control of the situation, and most importantly, he didn't want to lose her - not when they had made it this far, not ever.
“I might,” he said teasingly and felt her become tense on his lap. “I'll finally kiss Xiu Yi!” he then added with a laugh and felt fits of laughter shake her as well.
Xiu Yi raised his head from his cell phone. “Weeeii, Quan, you missed the boat on my homosexuality. I'm flattered but you better not try anything tonight. My love -” he paused dramatically, “is not of the betraying kind, and - ”
He launched into another exaggerated speech about the inter-continental love wonder between him and Julia, and Quan suppressed his laughter against Rui Xi's shoulder. She leaned back, closer to his body, and he didn't mind. They were both in the clear. For now, that's all he needed.
8. getting to know new people, or: internet again
Xiu Yi was desperately typing up a history report that should be finished at 7 AM the next morning. He didn't even re-read the sentences he was typing, there may have been more than a few typos here and there, but the priority was to finish it so he could graduate without having to re-do some dull history course. He was at Quan's computer because his own one had conveniently broken down just as he began to do the assignment. The world was against him but this was nothing new - he had, after all, fallen in love with his best friend earlier that year, and been forced to step out of a closet he hadn't even known he'd been in all the time.
He was just about to start a new paragraph when a new window suddenly opened itself. One of those chat programs he had but never really used.
The message was intended for Rui Xi. Somebody from America, though written in Mandarin, and Xiu Yi felt it was only polite to reply somehow.
“This is Rui Xi's friend, he isn't here right now.”
A reply came fast.
“Zuo Yi Quan, is that you?”
Xiu Yi played with the idea of posing as Quan but then he didn't want to be one of those dishonest people on the internet who said they were 19 and looked like Rainie Yang and were actually 45 year old fat, balding guys, those various horror stories he'd read.
“No, this isn't Quan.”
“Who is this, then?”
Now all of his attention was focused on the small chat window screen. He could finish the report later. Yes. He had all night. No worries. He smiled to himself and typed.
“Yin Xiu Yi.”
Now there was a minute or two of silence. Then came the response, which Xiu Yi supposed in internet language would be a shocked one.
“Monkey boy???”
If shock was wind, he would've been thrown to the other side of the room by now. Xiu Yi drew in a shocked breath and kept gasping for a couple of minutes as if short of oxygen. Out of all the people...
“Julia???”
She seemed to be typing back furiously quickly. “Still in love with Rui Xi?”
He typed back equally angrily. “Yes, mine is an undying love - you wouldn't understand. Still an awful female monster?”
Ha! That served her right. Arguing on the internet was a little less expressive than what he was used to, but he figured he was pretty good at both.
“Whatever,” she sent back in Western letters. “I'm not going to argue with you online right now. Bye, yellow monkey boy.”
He sat back and then began to type another insult, only to find he couldn't send it to her any more. He felt oddly disappointed, almost sad, and not just because now all his rage was going to waste. There was a certain satisfaction to arguing with Julia. He didn't really know where it came from.
He memorized her screen name, almost without meaning to.
9. relaxing
Both of them really ought to study for the big exam next week but after a warm shower and an evening snack of some American cookies her brother sent her, Lu Rui Xi is ready to fall asleep. So is Quan, by the looks of it, his head already dropping against the side of the bed as he sits on the floor. He looks very cute like that, she can't help thinking, and takes the half-eaten cookie from between his fingers, finishing it herself.
It's been a long time since she's watched him like this. It's vastly different from staring at a picture on her wall - better. She's often amazed she's made it this far, gotten this close to him. That she's managed to actually support him like she always wanted to and meanwhile he's been there for her as well. She wipes away the cookie crumbs he has on the side of his mouth, and she wonders if he's just pretending to sleep like that one time.
“Quan?” she asks, poking his biceps with a finger. “Are you asleep?”
He doesn't respond.
Her heart races as she leans in closer, testing it, taking a chance maybe and he doesn't flinch or move even though she's really very close now. He has to feel her breath against his cheek and she figures he's really asleep. She considers sneaking a kiss briefly, staring at his mouth, but then backs away from him.
“Rui Xi, you pervert!” she reprimands herself and sighs. Sometimes loving someone secretly is difficult what with all the non-touching involved but her brain isn't going there. No, not at all, she thinks and stares at Quan's collarbone, sighing again.
She takes another cookie and sits down next to him, eating the cookie. Their arms are touching and she eats in silence, and treasures the moment of togetherness until she gets an idea. Letting her head gently dip onto his shoulder, she giggles to herself and pretends to be sleep. She knows she should wake Quan up and make sure they get a good night's sleep in their own separate beds but now she'd rather just cherish this, and it turns out, so does Quan.
He lifts his arm suddenly and she, pretending to be fast asleep, has no choice but to fall against his chest, and he places his arm around her, just holding her like that, his own head placed on top of hers. She blushes but keeps her eyes closed, and he squeezes her closer to him until they're so close and comfortable she actually does fall asleep.
Just like that.
Story notes:
~ I know it's annoying to read an English fic with non-English words sprinkled here and there but when the canon material is 99.8% in a language that isn't English, I find it difficult to ignore that other language completely. So, the Mandarin words used/cultural references:
Ge ge - 'brother', used for an older male person. Surely most people know this from the subbing already.
Mei (mei) - 'little sister', used for a small girl (as far as I've understood). Again, appears in subbing.
Shuai - handsome. Word you'll find in nearly any twdrama/cpop discussion for the obvious reasons. IMO perfect to describe Vic Zhou. ;)
Vic Zhou - Link. Taiwanese idol drama star, basically. Adored by tons of people.
Wretch - wretch.cc is a Taiwanese weblog site where Wu Chun etc have promotional blog sorta thingies.
ISWAK 2 - It Started With a Kiss 2 is continuation to the popular idol drama It Started With a Kiss, starring Ariel Lin and Joe Cheng (and Jiro Wang aka Xiu Yi as a third wheel). Ironically also (rumored to be) featuring Danson Tang in a small role or cameo or whatever. Danson, if you didn't know, played Si Nan on Hana Kimi. ;)
Wei - hey. I know I could've just used “hey” instead of this but the Mandarin equivalent just seems to fit the character's mouth better.
Rainie Yang - Another pretty Taiwanese pop star who's starred in dramas and all that good stuff.
~ Yeah, I could've possibly held back on the pop-culture references (Vic, wretch, ISWAK 2...) but to be honest, I just didn't want to. When they came to me, they seemed to fit perfectly.
~ Ye Shen is the guy with afroish hair. Ri Hui is the one with short hair. No, I didn't know that either before I began writing this.
~ In terms of timeline, these fall on both the actual canon and out of it. Hopefully each piece explains its own place in the timeline but if you've got any questions, feel free to ask.
~ Xiu Yi was hard to write because he's so unbelievably exaggerated. It seemed so ridiculous to type up what actions I could imagine him do in a situation (damn you, Jiro Wang, and your unique ingenuity!). So I might've downplayed him a little - or made him even more OTT at times. It was a fine line. Also, I tried to write how he actually falls in love with Julia but it was difficult and would've involved a ton of "writing out IM convos" which is not something I enjoy.
~ Hopefully somebody will find #5 amusing. Porn buddies! I couldn't NOT write it. But I admit it's really weird.
~ #6 with Da Shu was modelled after a certain manga chapter I read of his manga equivalent. I liked the tone of it. It shaped the character for me. He's misunderstood but I fully get why.
~ Yeah, I want Rui Xi and Quan to kiss each other and never stop but I limited myself with the whole Ying Kai headline. Maybe I'll write post-graduation fluff awesome later. Oh, and I refer to Rui Xi as a 'he' whenever the person from whose POV the event takes place doesn't know about her real identity.
That's all... Hope you enjoyed! :)
9 ways to procrastinate at ying kai boys' school
fandom: hana kimi (hua yang shao nian shao nu)
characters: rui xi, quan, xiu yi, mei tian, da shu, si nan, julia.. principal cast, basically. (paired as in canon!)
rating: pg
disclaimer: Uhm, manga was drawn by Hisano Nakajo and the live action produced by Comic Productions Co., Ltd. so I'm about as far from owning anything as Finland is from Taiwan.
words: ~5,000 (ya rly.)
notes: Xiexie to sioniann for mental support and beta services. All Mandarin words and pop culture references explained in the story notes below fic. These vignettes take place throughout and beyond canon so SPOILERS FOR ALL OF THE DRAMA.
1. contemplation of own sexual preference
Jin Xiu Yi simply couldn't be gay. He had continuously listed the reasons for this inside his own head. He played sports - and he didn't know of a single soccer player who was actually gay. Yes, the players did touch each other on the field a lot, in some European countries they even embraced each other tightly, kissed each other on the mouth - but he wasn't Italian, and neither was he gay. Secondly, he wasn't pretty in the way gay men were supposed to be in order to attract other gay men. He did like to think of himself as ruggedly handsome, the kind that would easily attract Rui Xi - girls, that is, girls. Not Rui Xi, because Rui Xi was a guy, not a girl. Though if Rui Xi was a girl, he'd be a very cute girl.. Perhaps dressed in something light pink, her face lit with a huge smile as she would purr with the sweetest voice, “Ge ge...” and Xiu Yi would laugh softly and reply to her call by placing his arms around her soft body. They'd hug each other, in a perfect picture of pure love.
He sighed and was only disturbed when Da Shu threw an eraser at his head.
“You're making that perverted face again,” he told Xiu Yi. “It's creeping out my friend over here.”
He then bent over his homework again, leaving Xiu Yi both scared and embarrassed. He slipped into those little fantasies a little too easy. And how come Rui Xi was always dressed like a girl? Xiu Yi groaned. Not only did he have to be gay, he had to be a really weird gay on top of it.
Not that he actually was gay, though. Because he played sports. Right.
He got up and slapped Da Shu on the back in an overly manly manner.
“I'm going running!” he exclaimed, and thought about adding something about it obviously being what manly men did, but maybe Da Shu got the point by the slap on his back. He sure was coughing like he understood exactly how manly Xiu Yi was.
He stretched and ran ten laps, clearing his head in the cool of the evening. It was fine. Everything was fine.
He jogged to the vending machine and met a familiar smile. Rui Xi beamed at him, offering Xiu Yi the juice can he had just bought.
“Xiu Yi, you look like you've run a marathon. Have some of my juice!”
“NO! I mean, no thanks, it's okay,” Xiu Yi flashed a smile at his friend's weirded out expression and left out a laugh. “It's fine. I'll buy my own drink.”
His hand shook as he stuffed the coins into the vending machine and he just laughed at each of Rui Xi's worried, friendly questions about whether he was feeling okay. He punched the button for the wrong type of soda and drank it quickly, smiling widely while gulping down the drink he wouldn't have normally touched at all. Cranberry-watermelon. Yuck. But he smiled and Rui Xi smiled back, though a little awkwardly, and they said bye to each other.
He walked back to his dorm room in a daze like state, thinking about Rui Xi's smile, the touch of worry in his voice. Xiu Yi sunk into his bed miserably. He was a goner. A sex monster. Maybe even gay. His life was officially over.
2. internet
Zuo Yi Quan smiled to himself. Rui Xi had been on his computer once again. It amused him because even had he been completely unaware of her true gender, her web-surfing choices would've surely tipped him off. What guy would surf Vic Zhou fansites and galleries of kitten photos? She had even saved some of the visited websites under his bookmark folder.
Just as well, he figured. He could tease her about it later tonight. Or maybe he wouldn't, as he didn't really want to make her feel less secure about her secret. She did forget herself sometimes, or truthfully speaking often, but it didn't really matter as long as he was there to make sure her secret was safe from the rest of the world.
Of course, the dumbhead had also forgotten to log herself off an instant messenger program Quan himself never used. Suddenly a window popped up out of nowhere, and some American screen name wrote messages intended for Rui Xi in English.
Quan's English was good, but he still struggled to phrase himself in a response. In the end he sent the shortest possible reply, no matter how rude it might've come off as.
“This is Lu Rui Xi's room mate, sorry. Bye.”
The American friend of Rui Xi's quickly responded with a curious question but Quan closed the window and the program quickly. On the same moment, Rui Xi herself entered their room.
“Hey,” she said and quickly walked over to see what he was looking at. “I bought some juice. Xiu Yi was acting weird again.”
“That's normal for him,” Quan quipped and then suddenly noticed which website he had open in the browser window.
“I didn't know you liked Vic Zhou!” Rui Xi said, excitement evident in her voice.
Quan moved uncomfortably. “Hey, it's your link I clicked on!”
Rui Xi wasn't looking at him. She was staring at the screen, eyes almost glued to it. “So shuai... I-I mean, Vic Zhou reminds me of me, that's why I saved the link. He's very manly, we're both very manly.” She lowered her voice in a comical manner that made him smile again.
“Okay, okay. Go take a shower.”
“Fine.” Her face relaxed into a smile. “You can finish my juice if you like.”
“Thanks,” Quan said and closed the web browser. Rui Xi glanced once more at the computer screen and looked a bit disappointed not to see the idol staring back at her. Quan tried not to feel vaguely jealous.
He finished her juice, and felt happy - but not because of the juice. After all, it wasn't Vic Zhou who Rui Xi had flown to Taiwan for.
3. therapy
“...and then he brought his face reaaally close to my face, and I asked him if he'd been drinking because everytime he drinks he turns into a kissing monster and he said no but he was really close to me and looking at me really oddly and then he just pulled away and...”
Mei Tian wondered if it was possible for one's spirit to leave one's body completely and maybe land on a more interesting destination than the body's current location. Or just somewhere quiet. A beach in a foreign land, far away from school boys or girls or teenage romance or all the people who generally annoyed him or were scared to death of him.
Sadly Lu Rui Xi wasn't one of the latter. “...Teacher?” she asked expectantly, looking at him from under her eyebrows.
“Yes?” he asked tiredly.
“What do you think?”
Her problems had become even more repetitive since she had been close to leaving Ying Kai altogether, it seemed. Quan knew about her true identity, of course, and had implied it several times, probably also to her face, but Rui Xi herself had never quite gotten the message. She still loved him secretly, he still loved her secretly, but she still troubled herself with the problems they had long passed through. She was a bit simple but that was really nothing new.
“I think..” Mei Tian began, knowing that perhaps under some absurd moral law it was wrong to tease a lovesick teenager like this, but he had never been one to care.
“You think..?”
“I think...” He paused for dramatic effect. “You should just do it.”
Her eyebrows knitted together and she did a confused head tilt. “Do what?”
He smiled and leaned forward in his chair. This was going to be good if she bit the hook. And knowing Rui Xi, she probably would. He crooked his own finger to make her lean closer to listen and even though her face wore a worried expression, she leaned her ear towards him obediently.
“Jump in his bed at night and ravish him in the dark!” Mei Tian spoke in her ear. Then he leaned back and observed the exact reaction he had been hoping for.
She went white in the face, and then blushed violently. “Teacher, how can you be so dirty!” she exclaimed nearly loud enough for the people in the hallway to hear her.
He smiled in a satisfied manner. “Just a suggestion.”
“You're of no help,” Rui Xi said, frowning. She got off her seat and walked towards the door of his office with slumped shoulders.
Mei Tian couldn't help but feel the tiniest pang of guilt somewhere in his chest (or maybe it was simple muscle pain - he couldn't really tell what was his conscience knocking and what wasn't).
“Hey,” he said and she turned around to give him a miserable look. “Zuo Yi Quan cares about you a lot. Shouldn't that solve all your problems?”
It was a sweet gesture, which he naturally should've avoided making, since the next thing he knew, she had sprung up to him, squeezing him tightly in her arms. He suddenly felt uncomfortable and nauseated.
“Get off!” he groaned, but she hugged him even more enthusiastically.
“Thank you, teacher!” she squealed happily and then let him go only to smile at him brightly. “You're the best gay ever!”
After those words she exited his office, and he found himself even more bored than he had been while listening to her droning on about Quan. He played a game of Solitaire and took a beauty nap on the couch. So maybe his job did have its perks.
4. modelling
Liang Si Nan was happy. Three hundred more friendings on his wretch blog and it would officially be one of the most popular weblogs in all of Taiwan - and that included all those idol drama stars' promotional websites. If the trend kept up, he'd be starring in It Started With a Kiss 2 alongside Ariel Lin instead of Joe Cheng.
Well, maybe not, but confidence did look good on him and he was well aware of that. The digital camera his sister had given him some months back had quickly become his most priced possession. Of course, Mei Tian had quickly noted his excessive use of it, and one of the first comments his weblog had received had actually been from the school doctor mocking his nephew's camera-willingness (this was Si Nan's politically correct term for photowhoring).
Gladly Si Nan was aware that where there was talent, there were also jealous crowds. Which is exactly why he needed to so extensively explain Dorm 2's need for better lamps at the last Dormitory Leaders' meeting. Naturally the first reason was make sure everybody had better light to study in but wasn't it also important that nobody could look good under the current fluorescent light they were objected to?
For this reason Si Nan took his latest pictures in bathrooms. For some peculiar reason the light always seemed to be cast perfectly there. Bathroom light suited his features, and nobody visiting the toilets usually dared to complain about him being there. If anything, his glare at them usually made them realize they didn't need to use the bathroom after all and so he got his privacy.
There were, of course, exceptions.
“Hi, Senior Nan,” Jin Xiu Yi greeted him as Si Nan was about to snap a picture of himself and his brand new designer sunglasses. He was so surprised that he dropped the glasses in the sink.
“Xiu Yi, what are you doing here?” he asked irritably and Xiu Yi looked at him quizzically, gesturing the toilets and himself.
“Don't mind me!” he said happily and walked over to one of the toilets. Si Nan felt oddly disgusted.
“Shouldn't you be using another bathroom now that you're gay?” he quipped sarcastically.
Xiu Yi took no offence. “Did you know I met my love Rui Xi in this very bathroom?”
Si Nan didn't. Xiu Yi came over and began washing his hands, smiling goofily at Si Nan through the mirror. “Of course, I hadn't fallen in love with him yet back then, but I felt the connection there, as our eyes met through this mirror here and--”
“My glasses!” Si Nan interrupted, fishing his latest designer purchase from the bottom of the sink amidst the soapy water. “Xiu Yi, you..”
Xiu Yi looked worried for a while but seeing the glasses emerge from beneath the water, he smiled casually. “Sorry. But hey, look, they're fine, no harm done.” He slapped a wet hand onto the senior student's back.
Si Nan controlled his increasing anger and merely threw Xiu Yi a death glare before exiting the bathroom, camera in one hand, dripping wet glasses in the other, swearing revenge silently.
So maybe the world wasn't his personal studio. Yet.
5. xxx
Ye Shen really liked girls. That was a given. Ri Hui also liked them. They both just really, really liked girls.
They had a slight problem with liking the same girls. Even girls they had never physically met.
“Ri Hui!” Ye Shen exclaimed when his friend entered their dormitory room. “Where are my --” Suddenly words got stuck at the back of his throat. He couldn't exactly admit to owning that sort of materials, could he? “...magazines?” he finished in an awkward manner.
“Xiu Yi borrowed some of the music magazines, he wants to make a mix tape to somebody.” Ri Hui looked at him quizzically. “Why are you so worried?”
“Not those magazines.” Ye Shen coughed embarrassedly. “The other kind of magazines.”
“Oh.” Ri Hui thought for a moment. “Oh. Those.”
“Yes, those.” They didn't look at each other in the eye. Ye Shen began thinking maybe he should've just gone on the internet for this sort of thing. He really didn't need them right now but he always felt a bit awkward when he didn't know where they were and what Ri Hui had done to them and if Ri Hui had in fact done something with them that Ye Shen had wanted to do. It was awkward enough that they occasionally brushed each others thighs while sitting close in the cafeteria or held hands when caught up in their fantasies but now with these ..magazines, it was almost as if they were sharing a bit too much.
“The last I looked, they were still under your mattress.” Ri Hui broke the silence and stared at his friend's reddening face.
“Oh.” Ye Shen lifted his own mattress, still avoiding Ri Hui's look. “Look at that. Thanks.”
“Don't mention it.”
“I'll just go now.”
“Right.”
Ye Shen could only breathe properly outside the dormitory room. Lessons in life, he figured. Don't share women with your best friend.
6. conversation
Da Shu was walking to the dormitory late in the evening when a spirit of a little girl stopped him on his tracks. He remembered her from before, had talked to her several times and knew her story by heart now. Her end had been a tragic one - an illness that took her life at the age of 11 - but her spirit was happy. She visited her mother a lot, for comfort and good times. She had told Da Shu that her mother sensed her, but didn't always respond. It made her a little sad but she coped well.
“Hi!” she greeted him.
“Hello meimei!” He smiled. “You're here again.”
“I was bored,” she said. “How are you?”
“Just fine, thanks. My room mate's going through a lot. It's a bit odd. Mostly I'm just trying to focus on exams but it's difficult.”
“Why?” she asked and her small luminescent form sat down on the grass. He sat down on the bench next to her.
“There's a new student at our school. His appearance is male but I feel his spirit is female. It's confusing.” Da Shu sighed.
“Then it must be a girl. No boy could have a girl's spirit.” The girl giggled. “It would be very odd, though.”
“Yeah, it would.” He smiled to himself. “It'll make sense to me some day, I'm sure.”
“Spirits don't lie,” she just said, casually as ever. “I should go. Me and Ye Ling are going to visit an amusement park tonight.”
“Oh? Will it be empty?”
“Yes. We just hope we won't make any noise and scare anybody.” She frowned a bit. “I don't like scaring people.”
Da Shu smiled. “Nobody does.” He then saw a shape of a human appearing somewhere in the close distance.
“Bye bye,” the little girl spirit said and ran off, vanishing somewhere near amidst the trees of the Ying Kai campus.
He walked back to the dormitories and ran into Rui Xi.
“I just talked about you with a friend!” Da Shu told him happily.
Rui Xi appeared shocked but Da Shu didn't mind. People who had no knowledge or awareness of spirits found it difficult to understand them. They rather thought spirits didn't exist at all, would rather dismiss them completely. That was fine, too.
Da Shu wanted to make people understand, though. That the spirits were gentle and friendly, and rarely angry or hostile. That the spirits were still here on this Earth so that they could make their presence felt. So that people would care for them as if they never left in the first place. When people didn't, it made Da Shu a little sad, even though the spirits themselves never seemed shaken by the fact. They were just glad to know Da Shu - just as he was glad to know them.
7. partying
When Rui Xi danced, she looked awkward. When she danced drunk, she looked like a girl. A drunk girl, but very much a girl all the same. Their friends were watching her performance a little too closely and Quan was worried that even with their alcohol-addled brains, they might figure something out judging by the way Rui Xi's body moved to the silly pop music. They were hanging out in Xiu Yi and Da Shu's room, trying to get their minds off some of the stress final exams were bringing out in each of them. It had been moments ago when Ye Shen and Ri Hui had come up with the brilliant idea of a dance competition - winner gets the last beer. Rui Xi had been first in line to dance.
“You look like an idiot,” Quan said and stood up, taking her arms to prevent her from dancing. Instead she began dancing with him, moving his arms around her and putting her own around him. He blushed. This was not good.
“Oh come on, Quan! You can do better than that!” she said excitedly and pulled at his shirt to make him move more.
He grew increasingly aware of the way the others in the room were looking at the two of them. He spun Rui Xi around and backed himself onto his seat, pulling her with him to sit on his lap, restraining her arms.
“Calm down. Your dancing's awful,” Quan complained loud enough for the others to hear and to his relief, Ri Hui got up to dance in his usual goofy style to replace Rui Xi on the virtually non-existent dance floor.
“Quan,” she whined drunkenly, leaning her head against his shoulder, “why won't you let me dance?”
“You can dance later.” The thought made him realize how close she was to him right now, how tightly he was holding her. He hastily added, “When you're sober. Tomorrow.”
“Will you become a kiss monster tonight?” she asked him, whispering like a secret - and he couldn't figure out whether she sounded hopeful or worried, or a mix of both.
He swallowed hard, considering the possibility. He really wanted to. All the time, but especially now, her so close to him, his heart beating faster and the thought of just the two of them in their room, later that night. Alone. He really wanted to.
But even more did he want to not complicate things between him and Rui Xi. He didn't want her to have to worry about people finding out about her secret, or the two of them. He didn't want to lose control of the situation, and most importantly, he didn't want to lose her - not when they had made it this far, not ever.
“I might,” he said teasingly and felt her become tense on his lap. “I'll finally kiss Xiu Yi!” he then added with a laugh and felt fits of laughter shake her as well.
Xiu Yi raised his head from his cell phone. “Weeeii, Quan, you missed the boat on my homosexuality. I'm flattered but you better not try anything tonight. My love -” he paused dramatically, “is not of the betraying kind, and - ”
He launched into another exaggerated speech about the inter-continental love wonder between him and Julia, and Quan suppressed his laughter against Rui Xi's shoulder. She leaned back, closer to his body, and he didn't mind. They were both in the clear. For now, that's all he needed.
8. getting to know new people, or: internet again
Xiu Yi was desperately typing up a history report that should be finished at 7 AM the next morning. He didn't even re-read the sentences he was typing, there may have been more than a few typos here and there, but the priority was to finish it so he could graduate without having to re-do some dull history course. He was at Quan's computer because his own one had conveniently broken down just as he began to do the assignment. The world was against him but this was nothing new - he had, after all, fallen in love with his best friend earlier that year, and been forced to step out of a closet he hadn't even known he'd been in all the time.
He was just about to start a new paragraph when a new window suddenly opened itself. One of those chat programs he had but never really used.
The message was intended for Rui Xi. Somebody from America, though written in Mandarin, and Xiu Yi felt it was only polite to reply somehow.
“This is Rui Xi's friend, he isn't here right now.”
A reply came fast.
“Zuo Yi Quan, is that you?”
Xiu Yi played with the idea of posing as Quan but then he didn't want to be one of those dishonest people on the internet who said they were 19 and looked like Rainie Yang and were actually 45 year old fat, balding guys, those various horror stories he'd read.
“No, this isn't Quan.”
“Who is this, then?”
Now all of his attention was focused on the small chat window screen. He could finish the report later. Yes. He had all night. No worries. He smiled to himself and typed.
“Yin Xiu Yi.”
Now there was a minute or two of silence. Then came the response, which Xiu Yi supposed in internet language would be a shocked one.
“Monkey boy???”
If shock was wind, he would've been thrown to the other side of the room by now. Xiu Yi drew in a shocked breath and kept gasping for a couple of minutes as if short of oxygen. Out of all the people...
“Julia???”
She seemed to be typing back furiously quickly. “Still in love with Rui Xi?”
He typed back equally angrily. “Yes, mine is an undying love - you wouldn't understand. Still an awful female monster?”
Ha! That served her right. Arguing on the internet was a little less expressive than what he was used to, but he figured he was pretty good at both.
“Whatever,” she sent back in Western letters. “I'm not going to argue with you online right now. Bye, yellow monkey boy.”
He sat back and then began to type another insult, only to find he couldn't send it to her any more. He felt oddly disappointed, almost sad, and not just because now all his rage was going to waste. There was a certain satisfaction to arguing with Julia. He didn't really know where it came from.
He memorized her screen name, almost without meaning to.
9. relaxing
Both of them really ought to study for the big exam next week but after a warm shower and an evening snack of some American cookies her brother sent her, Lu Rui Xi is ready to fall asleep. So is Quan, by the looks of it, his head already dropping against the side of the bed as he sits on the floor. He looks very cute like that, she can't help thinking, and takes the half-eaten cookie from between his fingers, finishing it herself.
It's been a long time since she's watched him like this. It's vastly different from staring at a picture on her wall - better. She's often amazed she's made it this far, gotten this close to him. That she's managed to actually support him like she always wanted to and meanwhile he's been there for her as well. She wipes away the cookie crumbs he has on the side of his mouth, and she wonders if he's just pretending to sleep like that one time.
“Quan?” she asks, poking his biceps with a finger. “Are you asleep?”
He doesn't respond.
Her heart races as she leans in closer, testing it, taking a chance maybe and he doesn't flinch or move even though she's really very close now. He has to feel her breath against his cheek and she figures he's really asleep. She considers sneaking a kiss briefly, staring at his mouth, but then backs away from him.
“Rui Xi, you pervert!” she reprimands herself and sighs. Sometimes loving someone secretly is difficult what with all the non-touching involved but her brain isn't going there. No, not at all, she thinks and stares at Quan's collarbone, sighing again.
She takes another cookie and sits down next to him, eating the cookie. Their arms are touching and she eats in silence, and treasures the moment of togetherness until she gets an idea. Letting her head gently dip onto his shoulder, she giggles to herself and pretends to be sleep. She knows she should wake Quan up and make sure they get a good night's sleep in their own separate beds but now she'd rather just cherish this, and it turns out, so does Quan.
He lifts his arm suddenly and she, pretending to be fast asleep, has no choice but to fall against his chest, and he places his arm around her, just holding her like that, his own head placed on top of hers. She blushes but keeps her eyes closed, and he squeezes her closer to him until they're so close and comfortable she actually does fall asleep.
Just like that.
Story notes:
~ I know it's annoying to read an English fic with non-English words sprinkled here and there but when the canon material is 99.8% in a language that isn't English, I find it difficult to ignore that other language completely. So, the Mandarin words used/cultural references:
Ge ge - 'brother', used for an older male person. Surely most people know this from the subbing already.
Mei (mei) - 'little sister', used for a small girl (as far as I've understood). Again, appears in subbing.
Shuai - handsome. Word you'll find in nearly any twdrama/cpop discussion for the obvious reasons. IMO perfect to describe Vic Zhou. ;)
Vic Zhou - Link. Taiwanese idol drama star, basically. Adored by tons of people.
Wretch - wretch.cc is a Taiwanese weblog site where Wu Chun etc have promotional blog sorta thingies.
ISWAK 2 - It Started With a Kiss 2 is continuation to the popular idol drama It Started With a Kiss, starring Ariel Lin and Joe Cheng (and Jiro Wang aka Xiu Yi as a third wheel). Ironically also (rumored to be) featuring Danson Tang in a small role or cameo or whatever. Danson, if you didn't know, played Si Nan on Hana Kimi. ;)
Wei - hey. I know I could've just used “hey” instead of this but the Mandarin equivalent just seems to fit the character's mouth better.
Rainie Yang - Another pretty Taiwanese pop star who's starred in dramas and all that good stuff.
~ Yeah, I could've possibly held back on the pop-culture references (Vic, wretch, ISWAK 2...) but to be honest, I just didn't want to. When they came to me, they seemed to fit perfectly.
~ Ye Shen is the guy with afroish hair. Ri Hui is the one with short hair. No, I didn't know that either before I began writing this.
~ In terms of timeline, these fall on both the actual canon and out of it. Hopefully each piece explains its own place in the timeline but if you've got any questions, feel free to ask.
~ Xiu Yi was hard to write because he's so unbelievably exaggerated. It seemed so ridiculous to type up what actions I could imagine him do in a situation (damn you, Jiro Wang, and your unique ingenuity!). So I might've downplayed him a little - or made him even more OTT at times. It was a fine line. Also, I tried to write how he actually falls in love with Julia but it was difficult and would've involved a ton of "writing out IM convos" which is not something I enjoy.
~ Hopefully somebody will find #5 amusing. Porn buddies! I couldn't NOT write it. But I admit it's really weird.
~ #6 with Da Shu was modelled after a certain manga chapter I read of his manga equivalent. I liked the tone of it. It shaped the character for me. He's misunderstood but I fully get why.
~ Yeah, I want Rui Xi and Quan to kiss each other and never stop but I limited myself with the whole Ying Kai headline. Maybe I'll write post-graduation fluff awesome later. Oh, and I refer to Rui Xi as a 'he' whenever the person from whose POV the event takes place doesn't know about her real identity.
That's all... Hope you enjoyed! :)