[ Jjanggae ] hs!AU Hanchul - Pt1
Hanchul
Summary: Heechul grows up with Hankyung, falls in love with Hankyung. It takes a routine seperation for him to realize it, and then nothing's the same until everything's changed.
Part I
Heechul had been rather reserved as a kid. With his feminine face, he was mistaken for a girl more often than not and so decided at an early age that people were stupid and obviously not worth his time; he much preferred staying indoors with copier paper and a box of crayons.
He was a polite child, always saying noonim and hyungnim and yes, sir. The older ladies of his parents’ church (and he now refers to it as “his parents’” because at the age of 13 he realized he didn’t actually believe “any of this crap” and began signing himself off as Atheist) absolutely adored Heechul, cooing over his pretty face and coddling him every chance they had and in every way they knew how.
It was no surprise, of course, that he paraded through middle school with the idea that Kim Heechul was perfect, Kim Heechul was always right, and Kim Heechul always gets what he wants.
It wasn’t until his third year of high school that Heechul found someone he deemed worthy of more attention than he gave himself. He was a transfer student from China, all long legs and soft smiles and lightly tanned skin. Han Geng his name was. Han Geng could speak Korean well enough, his grammar was mostly there and his pronunciation occasionally slipped. His accent wooed all the girls (as if they hadn’t been wooed already) and the years of martial arts training he proved in gym class gave him a decent-sized male fan base as well.
Heechul didn’t approach Han Geng until the other’s second day at the school, having spent the night before practicing and practicing the pronunciation for the Chinese student’s name. He was feeling pretty confident about himself when he strode up to him in gym class, introducing himself after what he thought was a well-planned greeting in Chinese. What he wasn’t expecting was Han Geng to blink at him before a laugh as soft and sweet as he was escaped from behind the hand he had pressed backwards against his mouth.
“Sorry, sorry,” went the accent. “It’s just your Chinese is worse than my Korean.” Han Geng flashed him a somewhat apologetic smile when he noticed Heechul was nowhere near as amused by it all as he was. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just hard here, and that just reminded me of home and the fact that no one’s perfect, so I shouldn’t worry as much.” Shaking the hand Han Geng offered out, Heechul grunted and nodded.
To save face, Heechul gave Han Geng a Korean name. “Hankyung,” he said slowly. “See? It’s really close to your Chinese name, but it’s still easier for Koreans to pronounce.” Hankyung tried the name out, and decided he liked how it sounded and was pleased that he could say his own name correctly. “Hankyung.” Heechul reiterated for no one in particular; he decided he liked how it sounded, too, and was pleased with how right it felt in his throat and how easily it rolled off his tongue.
Heechul mulled over the prospect that no one’s perfect later that night. He disagreed, of course; Hankyung seemed pretty perfect to him.
Heechul found himself drawn to the new student like a moth to a flame and would do his best to spend every free moment of the day with him. His other friends teased him that he was acting too much like girl with a crush, but he just rolled his eyes and shoved them off.
A few days into their new friendship and Heechul noticed the brunette was either alone or with himself; Heechul had never seen Hankyung with another friend. Curiosity getting the better of him, he decided to question the other about it.
Hankyung turned a surprised pink at the question and Heechul berated himself for exploding on the inside like a fangirl. “A-ah, well. . .” He fidgeted in his seat in the library where they had met to work on Hankyung’s Korean together. “I just figured, you know, I like spending time with you, so why bother meeting other people? It’s a hassle being friendly to new people.” Heechul wondered if that meant he was a hassle at first too, but that Hankyung had put up with it until they were past the “new-person stage”, or if it meant that he was merely an excuse to save trouble: “Oh, well, Heechul’s so needy for attention, it would be troublesome to maintain two friendships.”
Again, he berated himself. At no point did Hankyung imply that he saw Heechul as needy, or that he was the reason meeting new people was a hassle. Really, he huffed mentally; he had no idea when he became so self-conscious (or rather, when he became so worried about what Hankyung thought).
A few months into their now unbeatable friendship, and Heechul wondered if the friends he had long-since, yet unintentionally abandoned were right; was he too much like a girl with a crush when it came to Hankyung?
He liked to think not, but these days he couldn’t be too sure.
The last semester of their Junior year was just around the corner now. The first official day of the new semester brought new subjects and a new student. A Chinese girl. A very, very pretty Chinese girl, at that. She spoke with that same soft drawl that Hankyung had but was much louder and more energetic in comparison to Hankyung’s uncertain nature.
Heechul couldn’t help but dislike the girl a little. Call him biased, but he thought Hankyung pulled off “pretty Chinese transfer student” so much better.
It was natural, of course, that Hankyung and the new girl, who went by the name Victoria, became fast friends. They conversed mostly in Chinese and Hankyung always called her mèimèi, even if they addressed each other in Korean; it really got on Heechul’s nerves. Victoria was loud and whiny and had the tendency to steal Hankyung’s attention with a pouty gege! and Heechul was really very tired of her.
“You’ve been spending too much time with Victoria lately,” he accused one day when he managed to get Hankyung all to himself.
It was natural, of course, that Heechul all but hated Victoria.
“Song Qian?” Heechul raised an eyebrow. He assumed Song Qian was Victoria’s Chinese name, but he would’ve pegged Hankyung as the type to have enough sense as to know when to not prove how close you were to someone. “I just don’t want her to feel lost like I did.”
“But you weren’t lost. You had me!”
Hankyung sighed lightly. “Heechul-ah, you know I’m grateful for you talking to me that first day, but it’s different,” he explained gently, slowly. Heechul hated how he sounded like he was explaining it to a child.
And he hated even more so that he was right.
“Besides,” Hankyung continued, “why are you getting so jealous? It’s not like you and I are dating; I can spend time with other people, too.”
Heechul found it a little difficult to swallow after that. He didn’t want to think about why that hurt so much. He supposed Hankyung was right.
It’s different.
Summer rolled in with its slight breaks from school and happy, sunny days. Hankyung announced a week into Heechul’s favorite seasonal break that he was going back to China for about ten days. Heechul joked the whole week or so before Hankyung’s flight that he wasn’t going to miss him.
“No more headaches trying to decipher your speech!” he had claimed. In reality, Hankyung’s Korean was much better. He only mispronounced words that would be considered “exceptions” to language rules, although his vowels were still long and dipped as true to his accent when he first moved to Korea.
In reality, Heechul already missed him.
It wasn’t until they were in the airport terminal that Hankyung somewhat shyly asked Heechul if he really wasn’t going to miss him. Heechul tsked and forced a laugh. “You must be coming down with something that affects your brain; of course I’ll miss you!” He swatted lightly at the other’s arm, letting out a giggle when Hankyung flashed that genuine smile he looked forward to. “Here, I’ll even give you a kiss.”
Heechul leaned in and placed a light kiss on Hankyung’s cheek, his own oddly flushed and heated. He closed the rest of the gap between them for a hug, circling his arms around Hankyung’s neck. He felt warm arms wrap around his waist and for a moment thought he would explode.
The announcer called for the passengers of Hankyung’s flight to start boarding and Heechul was forced to let go. He waved and smiled widely as Hankyung rolled his suitcase away but found he didn’t know what to do with himself once he was through the gate and eventually on the plane.
Heechul’s mom picked him up from the airport, not failing to notice the change in her son’s attitude from when she dropped the boys off. She expected as much though; the boys were such close friends, everyone agreed they definitely should have been born as brothers.
Three days into Hankyung’s China trip and Heechul realizes that he’s just a little too excited to get a phone call or email from his soft-spoken friend.
Five days into pining for Hankyung while he’s in China and Heechul begins to wonder if he’s as straight as he thought he was.
Ah~~ I post again >:3
So this is actually a short story I'm writing for my AP Lit class. It's a week late now because my computer crashed the night before the due date TT^TT But you guys get it before my teacher, because it's long so I'm posting it in parts. It's technically not finished yet haha
Part two should come either late tonight or sometime tomorrow afternoon/morning~
Summary: Heechul grows up with Hankyung, falls in love with Hankyung. It takes a routine seperation for him to realize it, and then nothing's the same until everything's changed.
Part I
Heechul had been rather reserved as a kid. With his feminine face, he was mistaken for a girl more often than not and so decided at an early age that people were stupid and obviously not worth his time; he much preferred staying indoors with copier paper and a box of crayons.
He was a polite child, always saying noonim and hyungnim and yes, sir. The older ladies of his parents’ church (and he now refers to it as “his parents’” because at the age of 13 he realized he didn’t actually believe “any of this crap” and began signing himself off as Atheist) absolutely adored Heechul, cooing over his pretty face and coddling him every chance they had and in every way they knew how.
It was no surprise, of course, that he paraded through middle school with the idea that Kim Heechul was perfect, Kim Heechul was always right, and Kim Heechul always gets what he wants.
It wasn’t until his third year of high school that Heechul found someone he deemed worthy of more attention than he gave himself. He was a transfer student from China, all long legs and soft smiles and lightly tanned skin. Han Geng his name was. Han Geng could speak Korean well enough, his grammar was mostly there and his pronunciation occasionally slipped. His accent wooed all the girls (as if they hadn’t been wooed already) and the years of martial arts training he proved in gym class gave him a decent-sized male fan base as well.
Heechul didn’t approach Han Geng until the other’s second day at the school, having spent the night before practicing and practicing the pronunciation for the Chinese student’s name. He was feeling pretty confident about himself when he strode up to him in gym class, introducing himself after what he thought was a well-planned greeting in Chinese. What he wasn’t expecting was Han Geng to blink at him before a laugh as soft and sweet as he was escaped from behind the hand he had pressed backwards against his mouth.
“Sorry, sorry,” went the accent. “It’s just your Chinese is worse than my Korean.” Han Geng flashed him a somewhat apologetic smile when he noticed Heechul was nowhere near as amused by it all as he was. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just hard here, and that just reminded me of home and the fact that no one’s perfect, so I shouldn’t worry as much.” Shaking the hand Han Geng offered out, Heechul grunted and nodded.
To save face, Heechul gave Han Geng a Korean name. “Hankyung,” he said slowly. “See? It’s really close to your Chinese name, but it’s still easier for Koreans to pronounce.” Hankyung tried the name out, and decided he liked how it sounded and was pleased that he could say his own name correctly. “Hankyung.” Heechul reiterated for no one in particular; he decided he liked how it sounded, too, and was pleased with how right it felt in his throat and how easily it rolled off his tongue.
Heechul mulled over the prospect that no one’s perfect later that night. He disagreed, of course; Hankyung seemed pretty perfect to him.
Heechul found himself drawn to the new student like a moth to a flame and would do his best to spend every free moment of the day with him. His other friends teased him that he was acting too much like girl with a crush, but he just rolled his eyes and shoved them off.
A few days into their new friendship and Heechul noticed the brunette was either alone or with himself; Heechul had never seen Hankyung with another friend. Curiosity getting the better of him, he decided to question the other about it.
Hankyung turned a surprised pink at the question and Heechul berated himself for exploding on the inside like a fangirl. “A-ah, well. . .” He fidgeted in his seat in the library where they had met to work on Hankyung’s Korean together. “I just figured, you know, I like spending time with you, so why bother meeting other people? It’s a hassle being friendly to new people.” Heechul wondered if that meant he was a hassle at first too, but that Hankyung had put up with it until they were past the “new-person stage”, or if it meant that he was merely an excuse to save trouble: “Oh, well, Heechul’s so needy for attention, it would be troublesome to maintain two friendships.”
Again, he berated himself. At no point did Hankyung imply that he saw Heechul as needy, or that he was the reason meeting new people was a hassle. Really, he huffed mentally; he had no idea when he became so self-conscious (or rather, when he became so worried about what Hankyung thought).
A few months into their now unbeatable friendship, and Heechul wondered if the friends he had long-since, yet unintentionally abandoned were right; was he too much like a girl with a crush when it came to Hankyung?
He liked to think not, but these days he couldn’t be too sure.
The last semester of their Junior year was just around the corner now. The first official day of the new semester brought new subjects and a new student. A Chinese girl. A very, very pretty Chinese girl, at that. She spoke with that same soft drawl that Hankyung had but was much louder and more energetic in comparison to Hankyung’s uncertain nature.
Heechul couldn’t help but dislike the girl a little. Call him biased, but he thought Hankyung pulled off “pretty Chinese transfer student” so much better.
It was natural, of course, that Hankyung and the new girl, who went by the name Victoria, became fast friends. They conversed mostly in Chinese and Hankyung always called her mèimèi, even if they addressed each other in Korean; it really got on Heechul’s nerves. Victoria was loud and whiny and had the tendency to steal Hankyung’s attention with a pouty gege! and Heechul was really very tired of her.
“You’ve been spending too much time with Victoria lately,” he accused one day when he managed to get Hankyung all to himself.
It was natural, of course, that Heechul all but hated Victoria.
“Song Qian?” Heechul raised an eyebrow. He assumed Song Qian was Victoria’s Chinese name, but he would’ve pegged Hankyung as the type to have enough sense as to know when to not prove how close you were to someone. “I just don’t want her to feel lost like I did.”
“But you weren’t lost. You had me!”
Hankyung sighed lightly. “Heechul-ah, you know I’m grateful for you talking to me that first day, but it’s different,” he explained gently, slowly. Heechul hated how he sounded like he was explaining it to a child.
And he hated even more so that he was right.
“Besides,” Hankyung continued, “why are you getting so jealous? It’s not like you and I are dating; I can spend time with other people, too.”
Heechul found it a little difficult to swallow after that. He didn’t want to think about why that hurt so much. He supposed Hankyung was right.
It’s different.
Summer rolled in with its slight breaks from school and happy, sunny days. Hankyung announced a week into Heechul’s favorite seasonal break that he was going back to China for about ten days. Heechul joked the whole week or so before Hankyung’s flight that he wasn’t going to miss him.
“No more headaches trying to decipher your speech!” he had claimed. In reality, Hankyung’s Korean was much better. He only mispronounced words that would be considered “exceptions” to language rules, although his vowels were still long and dipped as true to his accent when he first moved to Korea.
In reality, Heechul already missed him.
It wasn’t until they were in the airport terminal that Hankyung somewhat shyly asked Heechul if he really wasn’t going to miss him. Heechul tsked and forced a laugh. “You must be coming down with something that affects your brain; of course I’ll miss you!” He swatted lightly at the other’s arm, letting out a giggle when Hankyung flashed that genuine smile he looked forward to. “Here, I’ll even give you a kiss.”
Heechul leaned in and placed a light kiss on Hankyung’s cheek, his own oddly flushed and heated. He closed the rest of the gap between them for a hug, circling his arms around Hankyung’s neck. He felt warm arms wrap around his waist and for a moment thought he would explode.
The announcer called for the passengers of Hankyung’s flight to start boarding and Heechul was forced to let go. He waved and smiled widely as Hankyung rolled his suitcase away but found he didn’t know what to do with himself once he was through the gate and eventually on the plane.
Heechul’s mom picked him up from the airport, not failing to notice the change in her son’s attitude from when she dropped the boys off. She expected as much though; the boys were such close friends, everyone agreed they definitely should have been born as brothers.
Three days into Hankyung’s China trip and Heechul realizes that he’s just a little too excited to get a phone call or email from his soft-spoken friend.
Five days into pining for Hankyung while he’s in China and Heechul begins to wonder if he’s as straight as he thought he was.
Ah~~ I post again >:3
So this is actually a short story I'm writing for my AP Lit class. It's a week late now because my computer crashed the night before the due date TT^TT But you guys get it before my teacher, because it's long so I'm posting it in parts. It's technically not finished yet haha
Part two should come either late tonight or sometime tomorrow afternoon/morning~