Making Mistakes And Abusing Them (Not Like Henry's A Mistake, Though)
Summary: Five times Amber's called a boy (two times by Henry), six times she abuses him, one time he kisses her.
Genre: romance/het, humor, fluff :D
Rating: PG-13 for language
Char/Pair: Henry/Amber
A/N: For kpoppin ♥ ^^
It first happens in the library.
No, not when they first go on a date (though Amber wishes) or the first time they talk to each other (oh please, they've known each other for years) or the first time they become friends (which is almost as long as they've known each other) or the first time they have sex (in the library? That's gross.)
It's the first time Henry, upon seeing her, comes up to her, and then tilts his head to the side slightly and furrows his eyebrows, and says,
"You know, you kind of look like a guy."
Amber stares up at Henry. He's always had a nice face, she figures. It's pale and smooth, slightly quiet but has always given off the faint distinction of a cute, plump animal. Like a hamster. Amber has always liked hamsters.
She also notices that his face feels exceptionally soft when she's punching the side of it with her fist.
--
"Ow! I'm sorry!" Henry says as he walks back from the nurse. "But what was that for? Seriously!"
He winces as he clutches his cheek, and Amber can't help but smirk in satisfaction. She doesn't really get pleasure from seeing her friends in pain--but she does kind of get this sick, sick pleasure for knowing that Henry got exactly what he deserved.
"Just don't ever say that I look like a guy again," she says to him cheerfully.
Henry glances over at her. "Okay, okay. Sorry. Geez." He continues holding the side of his swollen face and glowers at his friend. "What, did you have some sort of traumatizing experience when you were younger with someone saying that you looked like a guy?"
"No," Amber answers, perhaps a little bit too quickly.
Henry continues watching her, but she pointedly avoids his eyes.
Then Henry continues staring straight ahead.
"Ow- ow, fucking dammit, you sure pack a punch. You definitely hit like a b--"
Amber throws him a look.
"... like a badass motherfucking girl. Happy?"
"As far as I know," Amber says coolly, "I've always been a badass motherfucking girl."
--
The second time is when they're at Amber's house, hiding eggs during eastertime for the kids who lived in their neighborhood to find.
Amber remembers that when she and Henry had been younger, they've always liked looking for eggs during Easter. Even though it was mostly because both of them had exceptionally sweet teeth and would race against (or together) each other to see who could get the most eggs. Henry always won, but Amber always came in second. Which had never been good enough for her when she was a kid, but now that she reflects back upon it, she realizes that it's not that bad.
Henry's busy putting an egg in a bush when he says, chuckling, "I remember when we used to do this. You always lost against me, did you."
"Shut up," Amber replies, though it's playful. The slap she gives Henry on the arm is playful as well, though he winces all the same.
"There must have been some incentive to it, though," Henry says thoughtfully. "I wonder what it is."
"Just don't say that it's because you're a guy and I'm a girl, and I'll accept whatever other reason it is you have for me."
Henry turns around and gives her a smirk. "But that doesn't even make any sense. Since you beat all the other guys too, and just always came after me, then that must mean--"
"Don't," Amber says warningly.
Henry faces away, muttering under his breath, "I swear, you have at least a little bit more testosterone in you than most girls do--"
Then a swift kick is delivered to his behind, and Henry topples over, crying out, "But I was just kidding, you don't!"
--
(Later on that day, when the Easter egg hunt starts, Henry warns all the little kids not to say that Amber looks like a boy or else they'll receive the same bruise on the ass as he does right now.
None of the kids believe him until Hankyung says something, and Amber has to face the wrath of an angry Chinese woman who smells faintly of dumplings later on.)
--
The third time she hurts him is a few weeks later--she's not called a boy by Henry, however. It's by her own mother.
Well really. And Amber had always thought that she could rely on her for being supportive and completely kind.
But of course Amber can't physically abuse her own mom. So when, as she's dropping Amber off at school for popping lessons, when she says, "I'm sure you'll fit in with all the boys!", Amber enters the gym in a fit of rage, ready to punch the first thing she sees.
The first thing she sees is Henry. Of course, she's always had slight hesitancies to punch this friend of hers--though, with her other friends, she doesn't hesitate for another second when smacking Krystal upside the head or telling Victoria to stop speaking Engrish or else she's going to flick her nose again (even though Victoria can never stop speaking Engrish--and always dislikes it when her nose is being abused).
Still, she shoves Henry up against the wall and delivers a good hard shove in the gut before letting him go.
"Ow!" Henry stumbles downwards and lands on the hardwood floor. "Jesus Christ, Amber, what was that for?!"
"My mother called me a guy," Amber grumbles, as she sticks her hand out to reluctantly help Henry up.
"So you decide to take your anger out on me?" Henry gives her a look of disbelief. "Well Jesus, you could always just get Siwon or something--I'm sure he can take this pain better than I can--"
"Stop being a goddamn pussy and start dancing," says Amber, trying to focus her attention on their instructor and less on her mother's words, still in her mind.
Henry opens his mouth, about to say something about Amber calling him a pussy and him calling her a guy--when he suddenly sees the look on his face.
He shuts up.
--
Actually, Amber's not quite sure why Henry's always the one taking the pains whenever she's mad. She could always go to any of her other friends, yes--or even better, just punch a random stranger (e.g. a classmate whom she doesn't like)--but instead, it's always Henry.
And it's not like Henry's always there, anyways. Well, they do hang out a lot together--whether they're in school, at the mall, at the gym--but it's not to the extent where he's always there when she needs him.
But he is.
--
Anyways.
The fourth time is when they're at school, and in history class. Both Henry and Amber are in it, and so both Henry and Amber have a substitute teacher on this day. The teacher is taking roll, and calls out, "Amber Liu."
"Here!" Amber calls from the conversation she's having with Henry. She doesn't take a second thought to it when she suddenly hears the substitute teacher say,
"Stop messing with me, young man; Amber Liu?"
Sniggers echo around the classroom. Amber glances up to the teacher, who's looking around. Beside her, Henry is chuckling into his palm--until Amber delivers a swift kick towards his ankle.
"I said, here," Amber enunciates, glowering at the teacher. "Didn't you hear me?"
"You can't be Amber," the teacher argues. "You're clearly a boy, and Amber is a girl, isn't she?"
The class laughs again. Amber turns a beet red and punches the snickering Henry in the shoulder.
"I am a girl," she hisses through gritted teeth. "Right, Henry?"
She turns to her friend, daring him to say no. Henry's still laughing, but his smile dies down when he sees the look on her face.
"I--ahem, um, yes," he manages out. "This is Amber. And she's a girl."
"Well all right then." The substitute teacher gives them both a wary look, but seems to take Henry's word. Amber's just annoyed that the teacher hadn't trusted her in the first place.
"Henry Lau?"
"He-- OW GODFUCKINGDAMMIT!"
--
The fifth time is during Thanksgiving.
Quite some time had passed since the first through fourth time, and Amber soon forgets about it. Of course, she continually abuses Henry on a day-to-day basis--but it's an affectionate thing, you know? It's her way of showing that she loves him. Well, so she tells herself. Though, it's not like Henry knows.
But it's not like Henry has to know, anyways.
And she doesn't really mind hurting him, as long as he doesn't stop hanging out with her. Which he doesn't. Stop hanging out with her, that is. So it's good enough. And it also just gives her an excuse to hang out with him more, because she likes hanging out with him. (Never mind that sometimes, Henry would whine that he was being dragged along--Amber suspects that deep, deep down inside, he had secretly enjoyed it all.)
It's not their first Thanksgiving together, but it's the first time that they decide that they want to have a combined Thanksgiving. Their families are pretty close anyways, and now that both of them are sixteen, it's kind of lonely to have their Thanksgivings with just their normal families now. Henry's brother is off at college, and Amber--well, Amber's Thanksgivings had always been boring. So they decide to combine.
Most of Amber's relatives are in China, but Henry has plenty in Canada, so they also decide that those family members are going to come as well. It's when five bottles of 啤酒 have been gone through by both of their parents, and Amber's mother is yelling for Jay Chou to get on at the satellite television, when the doorbell rings.
"I'll get it!" Amber calls, and scrambles up from the couch to get away from the four Chinese drunk parents.
"I'm going too," Henry adds hurriedly. The two teenagers go to the front door.
"Hi!" says Henry's uncle when Amber opens up the door. "Glad I didn't forget where you guys lived!" He turns to Henry, completely disregarding Amber. "Where's this lovely Amber girl you're always telling me about?"
"Um, 叔叔," Henry says. "This is Amber." And he points to Amber, standing right next to him.
"Oh, really?" His uncle peers over at her, squinting his eyes as if thinking he's not seeing things correctly. "But she kind of looks like a--"
"No, 叔叔, don't!"
"--boy."
The pain in Henry's lower calf is most definitely more than excruciating. Actually, excruciating would be an understatement.
--
Amber's busy shoveling the snow in her driveway when she hears footsteps coming through her backyard. Sighing, she puts her shovel down and doesn't turn around as she says, "Henry, I know that's you. Stop trying to be quiet; you fail at it."
"How did you know it was me?" Henry asks amusedly, and Amber faces him.
She shrugs. "I dunno, there's something about the way you walk... it's all very girly and delicate."
Henry pouts and Amber smirks. "You know," he says to her, "I don't see why you're allowed to say that I'm like a girl all the time when I can't even get away with mentioning a little bit that you're like a guy."
"That's because it's always been like this," Amber replies, as she picks up her shovel again and continues scraping away at the makeshift ice beneath their feet. "You're like a girl, I'm like a guy. Only, I'm the only one who calls you a girl whereas everyone else says that I'm like a guy. So yeah, that definitely gives me rights to hitting you."
"Hey, but." Henry pouts again. "Most of the time it isn't even me who's calling you a guy all the time."
"Yeah, but you called me a guy quite a few times," Amber says simply. "So I still have that right."
"Amber, do you really think I think of you as a guy so much?" Henry asks her, moving his delicate feet through the large mounds of snow and almost tripping over them.
Amber shrugs, looking at him. "Well, you always seem to say so."
"Do you really think that others think of you as a guy so much?"
"Well." Amber shrugs again, turning away. For some reason, a bright pink tinge is starting up her cheeks. "I never really cared, anyways."
"So then why did you hit me all the time?"
Henry's tone is innocent, but Amber can definitely see that there are many more intentions behind his words. He steps closer, and Amber struggles not to blush even deeper.
"'Cause I thought that if you had the idea, then everyone else did, too. Because I actually care about what you think, duh," is her simple reply, and she turns away, avoiding his gaze.
But then Henry takes both sides of her cheeks in his mittened hands and brings his face towards hers, so that she can see every snowflake dangling from his eyelashes.
"Amber," he says to her, "I think you're a girl. I think you're a girl that I care about. A lot."
His lips meet with her and he kisses her, and Amber realizes that she doesn't really care if the whole world sees her as a guy or a girl. As long as she's kissing Henry, she doesn't really care at all.
--
(When they break apart, she kicks him and he falls over in the snow, and she laughs.
"What was that for?" Henry cries, clutching onto his shin.
Amber giggles. "Sorry. It's a bad habit.")
Genre: romance/het, humor, fluff :D
Rating: PG-13 for language
Char/Pair: Henry/Amber
A/N: For kpoppin ♥ ^^
It first happens in the library.
No, not when they first go on a date (though Amber wishes) or the first time they talk to each other (oh please, they've known each other for years) or the first time they become friends (which is almost as long as they've known each other) or the first time they have sex (in the library? That's gross.)
It's the first time Henry, upon seeing her, comes up to her, and then tilts his head to the side slightly and furrows his eyebrows, and says,
"You know, you kind of look like a guy."
Amber stares up at Henry. He's always had a nice face, she figures. It's pale and smooth, slightly quiet but has always given off the faint distinction of a cute, plump animal. Like a hamster. Amber has always liked hamsters.
She also notices that his face feels exceptionally soft when she's punching the side of it with her fist.
--
"Ow! I'm sorry!" Henry says as he walks back from the nurse. "But what was that for? Seriously!"
He winces as he clutches his cheek, and Amber can't help but smirk in satisfaction. She doesn't really get pleasure from seeing her friends in pain--but she does kind of get this sick, sick pleasure for knowing that Henry got exactly what he deserved.
"Just don't ever say that I look like a guy again," she says to him cheerfully.
Henry glances over at her. "Okay, okay. Sorry. Geez." He continues holding the side of his swollen face and glowers at his friend. "What, did you have some sort of traumatizing experience when you were younger with someone saying that you looked like a guy?"
"No," Amber answers, perhaps a little bit too quickly.
Henry continues watching her, but she pointedly avoids his eyes.
Then Henry continues staring straight ahead.
"Ow- ow, fucking dammit, you sure pack a punch. You definitely hit like a b--"
Amber throws him a look.
"... like a badass motherfucking girl. Happy?"
"As far as I know," Amber says coolly, "I've always been a badass motherfucking girl."
--
The second time is when they're at Amber's house, hiding eggs during eastertime for the kids who lived in their neighborhood to find.
Amber remembers that when she and Henry had been younger, they've always liked looking for eggs during Easter. Even though it was mostly because both of them had exceptionally sweet teeth and would race against (or together) each other to see who could get the most eggs. Henry always won, but Amber always came in second. Which had never been good enough for her when she was a kid, but now that she reflects back upon it, she realizes that it's not that bad.
Henry's busy putting an egg in a bush when he says, chuckling, "I remember when we used to do this. You always lost against me, did you."
"Shut up," Amber replies, though it's playful. The slap she gives Henry on the arm is playful as well, though he winces all the same.
"There must have been some incentive to it, though," Henry says thoughtfully. "I wonder what it is."
"Just don't say that it's because you're a guy and I'm a girl, and I'll accept whatever other reason it is you have for me."
Henry turns around and gives her a smirk. "But that doesn't even make any sense. Since you beat all the other guys too, and just always came after me, then that must mean--"
"Don't," Amber says warningly.
Henry faces away, muttering under his breath, "I swear, you have at least a little bit more testosterone in you than most girls do--"
Then a swift kick is delivered to his behind, and Henry topples over, crying out, "But I was just kidding, you don't!"
--
(Later on that day, when the Easter egg hunt starts, Henry warns all the little kids not to say that Amber looks like a boy or else they'll receive the same bruise on the ass as he does right now.
None of the kids believe him until Hankyung says something, and Amber has to face the wrath of an angry Chinese woman who smells faintly of dumplings later on.)
--
The third time she hurts him is a few weeks later--she's not called a boy by Henry, however. It's by her own mother.
Well really. And Amber had always thought that she could rely on her for being supportive and completely kind.
But of course Amber can't physically abuse her own mom. So when, as she's dropping Amber off at school for popping lessons, when she says, "I'm sure you'll fit in with all the boys!", Amber enters the gym in a fit of rage, ready to punch the first thing she sees.
The first thing she sees is Henry. Of course, she's always had slight hesitancies to punch this friend of hers--though, with her other friends, she doesn't hesitate for another second when smacking Krystal upside the head or telling Victoria to stop speaking Engrish or else she's going to flick her nose again (even though Victoria can never stop speaking Engrish--and always dislikes it when her nose is being abused).
Still, she shoves Henry up against the wall and delivers a good hard shove in the gut before letting him go.
"Ow!" Henry stumbles downwards and lands on the hardwood floor. "Jesus Christ, Amber, what was that for?!"
"My mother called me a guy," Amber grumbles, as she sticks her hand out to reluctantly help Henry up.
"So you decide to take your anger out on me?" Henry gives her a look of disbelief. "Well Jesus, you could always just get Siwon or something--I'm sure he can take this pain better than I can--"
"Stop being a goddamn pussy and start dancing," says Amber, trying to focus her attention on their instructor and less on her mother's words, still in her mind.
Henry opens his mouth, about to say something about Amber calling him a pussy and him calling her a guy--when he suddenly sees the look on his face.
He shuts up.
--
Actually, Amber's not quite sure why Henry's always the one taking the pains whenever she's mad. She could always go to any of her other friends, yes--or even better, just punch a random stranger (e.g. a classmate whom she doesn't like)--but instead, it's always Henry.
And it's not like Henry's always there, anyways. Well, they do hang out a lot together--whether they're in school, at the mall, at the gym--but it's not to the extent where he's always there when she needs him.
But he is.
--
Anyways.
The fourth time is when they're at school, and in history class. Both Henry and Amber are in it, and so both Henry and Amber have a substitute teacher on this day. The teacher is taking roll, and calls out, "Amber Liu."
"Here!" Amber calls from the conversation she's having with Henry. She doesn't take a second thought to it when she suddenly hears the substitute teacher say,
"Stop messing with me, young man; Amber Liu?"
Sniggers echo around the classroom. Amber glances up to the teacher, who's looking around. Beside her, Henry is chuckling into his palm--until Amber delivers a swift kick towards his ankle.
"I said, here," Amber enunciates, glowering at the teacher. "Didn't you hear me?"
"You can't be Amber," the teacher argues. "You're clearly a boy, and Amber is a girl, isn't she?"
The class laughs again. Amber turns a beet red and punches the snickering Henry in the shoulder.
"I am a girl," she hisses through gritted teeth. "Right, Henry?"
She turns to her friend, daring him to say no. Henry's still laughing, but his smile dies down when he sees the look on her face.
"I--ahem, um, yes," he manages out. "This is Amber. And she's a girl."
"Well all right then." The substitute teacher gives them both a wary look, but seems to take Henry's word. Amber's just annoyed that the teacher hadn't trusted her in the first place.
"Henry Lau?"
"He-- OW GODFUCKINGDAMMIT!"
--
The fifth time is during Thanksgiving.
Quite some time had passed since the first through fourth time, and Amber soon forgets about it. Of course, she continually abuses Henry on a day-to-day basis--but it's an affectionate thing, you know? It's her way of showing that she loves him. Well, so she tells herself. Though, it's not like Henry knows.
But it's not like Henry has to know, anyways.
And she doesn't really mind hurting him, as long as he doesn't stop hanging out with her. Which he doesn't. Stop hanging out with her, that is. So it's good enough. And it also just gives her an excuse to hang out with him more, because she likes hanging out with him. (Never mind that sometimes, Henry would whine that he was being dragged along--Amber suspects that deep, deep down inside, he had secretly enjoyed it all.)
It's not their first Thanksgiving together, but it's the first time that they decide that they want to have a combined Thanksgiving. Their families are pretty close anyways, and now that both of them are sixteen, it's kind of lonely to have their Thanksgivings with just their normal families now. Henry's brother is off at college, and Amber--well, Amber's Thanksgivings had always been boring. So they decide to combine.
Most of Amber's relatives are in China, but Henry has plenty in Canada, so they also decide that those family members are going to come as well. It's when five bottles of 啤酒 have been gone through by both of their parents, and Amber's mother is yelling for Jay Chou to get on at the satellite television, when the doorbell rings.
"I'll get it!" Amber calls, and scrambles up from the couch to get away from the four Chinese drunk parents.
"I'm going too," Henry adds hurriedly. The two teenagers go to the front door.
"Hi!" says Henry's uncle when Amber opens up the door. "Glad I didn't forget where you guys lived!" He turns to Henry, completely disregarding Amber. "Where's this lovely Amber girl you're always telling me about?"
"Um, 叔叔," Henry says. "This is Amber." And he points to Amber, standing right next to him.
"Oh, really?" His uncle peers over at her, squinting his eyes as if thinking he's not seeing things correctly. "But she kind of looks like a--"
"No, 叔叔, don't!"
"--boy."
The pain in Henry's lower calf is most definitely more than excruciating. Actually, excruciating would be an understatement.
--
Amber's busy shoveling the snow in her driveway when she hears footsteps coming through her backyard. Sighing, she puts her shovel down and doesn't turn around as she says, "Henry, I know that's you. Stop trying to be quiet; you fail at it."
"How did you know it was me?" Henry asks amusedly, and Amber faces him.
She shrugs. "I dunno, there's something about the way you walk... it's all very girly and delicate."
Henry pouts and Amber smirks. "You know," he says to her, "I don't see why you're allowed to say that I'm like a girl all the time when I can't even get away with mentioning a little bit that you're like a guy."
"That's because it's always been like this," Amber replies, as she picks up her shovel again and continues scraping away at the makeshift ice beneath their feet. "You're like a girl, I'm like a guy. Only, I'm the only one who calls you a girl whereas everyone else says that I'm like a guy. So yeah, that definitely gives me rights to hitting you."
"Hey, but." Henry pouts again. "Most of the time it isn't even me who's calling you a guy all the time."
"Yeah, but you called me a guy quite a few times," Amber says simply. "So I still have that right."
"Amber, do you really think I think of you as a guy so much?" Henry asks her, moving his delicate feet through the large mounds of snow and almost tripping over them.
Amber shrugs, looking at him. "Well, you always seem to say so."
"Do you really think that others think of you as a guy so much?"
"Well." Amber shrugs again, turning away. For some reason, a bright pink tinge is starting up her cheeks. "I never really cared, anyways."
"So then why did you hit me all the time?"
Henry's tone is innocent, but Amber can definitely see that there are many more intentions behind his words. He steps closer, and Amber struggles not to blush even deeper.
"'Cause I thought that if you had the idea, then everyone else did, too. Because I actually care about what you think, duh," is her simple reply, and she turns away, avoiding his gaze.
But then Henry takes both sides of her cheeks in his mittened hands and brings his face towards hers, so that she can see every snowflake dangling from his eyelashes.
"Amber," he says to her, "I think you're a girl. I think you're a girl that I care about. A lot."
His lips meet with her and he kisses her, and Amber realizes that she doesn't really care if the whole world sees her as a guy or a girl. As long as she's kissing Henry, she doesn't really care at all.
--
(When they break apart, she kicks him and he falls over in the snow, and she laughs.
"What was that for?" Henry cries, clutching onto his shin.
Amber giggles. "Sorry. It's a bad habit.")